Engineering Mechanics I (Statics)

Lecture Notes
Engr. Bobby Lupango & Addisu

Contents
L ECTURE 1 0 Introduction 1.1
0.1 Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1
0.2 Units . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1
1 Linear Algebra 1.2
1.1 Vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2
1.1.1 Coordinate system . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2
1.1.2 Component representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.3
1.1.3 Converting to/from angular representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.4
1.1.4 Vector algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.5
1.1.5 Unit vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.6
1.2 Matrices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7
1.2.1 Matrix matrix multiplication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.7
L ECTURE 2 1.2.2 Determinants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1
1.3 Dot product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1
1.3.1 Angular representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
1.3.2 Vector norm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2
1.3.3 Unit vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3
1.3.4 Projection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4
1.4 Cross product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5
1.4.1 Component representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5
1.4.2 Scalar cross product . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6
1.4.3 Angular representation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7
1.4.4 Cross product with unit vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7
1.5 Linear systems . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8
1.5.1 Cramer’s rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8
1.5.2 Proof of Cramer’s rule . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9
L ECTURE 3 2 Point Equilibrium 3.1
2.1 Free body diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1
2.1.1 For a point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1
2.1.2 Diagram cutting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1
2.2 Force bearing members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2
2.2.1 Pivots . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2
2.2.2 Rollers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2
2.2.3 Two force members (2FM) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2
2.2.4 Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3
2.2.5 Pulleys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3

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 2.2.6 Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3
2.3 Governing equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3
2.3.1 Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3
2.3.2 Geometric . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4
2.3.3 Constitutive . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4
2.4 Problem methodology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4
2.5 2D examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4
L ECTURE 4 2.6 3D force-bearing members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4
2.6.1 2D members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4
2.6.2 3D pivot . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4
2.7 3D free body diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.4
2.8 3D equilibrium equation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5
2.9 3D examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.5
L ECTURE 5 2.10 Static indeterminacy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2
3 Moments 5.3
3.1 Force-bearing members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3
3.1.1 Rigid bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3
3.1.2 Rigid joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4
3.1.3 Hinges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4
3.2 Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4
3.2.1 Motivation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4
3.2.2 Definition of a moment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.5
3.2.3 Polar form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6
3.2.4 Pictorally . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.6
L ECTURE 6 3.2.5 Line of application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1
3.3 Moment about a specific axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1
3.4 Couple moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2
3.5 Reduction of forces and moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4
3.6 Distributed loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
3.6.1 Discrete case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5
3.6.2 Location of effective load . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6
3.6.3 Continuous case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7
L ECTURE 7 3.6.4 Generalized case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1
4 Rigid Body Equilibrium 7.2
4.1 Equilibrium equations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2
4.1.1 Choosing a reference point . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3
4.2 2D Free-body diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3
4.2.1 Reaction forces and moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3
4.2.2 Static indeterminacy and insufficient constraints: . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5
4.3 2D solution strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5
4.4 2D examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.6
L ECTURE 8 4.5 3D Free-body diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4
4.6 3D solution strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.6
L ECTURE 9 4.7 3D examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1
4.8 Multi-body free-body diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.5

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 4.9 Multi-body equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7
4.10 Multi-body solution strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.7
L ECTURE 10 4.11 Multi-body examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1
L ECTURE 11 5 Trusses 11.1
5.1 Method of joints . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1
5.1.1 Solution Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1
5.1.2 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2
5.2 Loading-free members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4
5.2.1 Zero-force members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.4
5.2.2 Stabilizing members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.6
L ECTURE 12 5.3 Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.4
5.4 Method of sections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.5
L ECTURE 13 6 Internal Forces 13.1
6.1 Internal forces in beams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1
6.1.1 Method of sections for beams in 2D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1
6.1.2 Notation and conventions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1
6.1.3 A note about couple moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2
6.1.4 Solution strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2
6.1.5 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2
6.2 Shear-moment diagrams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.4
L ECTURE 14 6.3 Elementary beam theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1
6.3.1 Relationship between loading, shear, and moment . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1
6.3.2 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.4
6.3.3 Dirac delta distributions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.5
6.3.4 Heaviside functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.6
6.3.5 Ramp functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.7
L ECTURE 15 6.3.6 Beam problems with point loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1
6.3.7 Unit doublet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2
6.3.8 “Singularity function” notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2
6.4 Introduction to Euler-Bernoulli beam theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3
6.4.1 Moment of inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.4
6.4.2 Boundary conditions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.5
6.4.3 Solution Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.6
L ECTURE 16 6.5 Cables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1
6.5.1 Point loads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3
6.5.2 Cable subjected to its own weight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.5
L ECTURE 17 7 Friction 17.1
7.1 Frictional forces . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1
7.2 Constitutive Friction Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2
7.3 Solution Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3
7.4 Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3
L ECTURE 18 8 Principle of Minimum Potential Energy 18.1
8.1 Degree of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1
8.2 Potential Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1
8.2.1 Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2

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 8.2.2 Torsion Springs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2
8.2.3 Gravity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2
8.3 Energy of applied forces and moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.3
8.4 Minimum potential energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.3
8.5 Solution strategy for one degree of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.4
L ECTURE 19 8.6 Stability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.3
8.7 Multiple degrees of freedom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.5
8.8 Virtual work . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.7
L ECTURE 20 9 Center of Gravity 20.1
9.1 Review of multivariable integration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.1
9.1.1 Area integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.1
9.1.2 Volume integrals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3
9.1.3 Polar coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.3
9.1.4 Cylindrical coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.5
9.1.5 Line integrals in 2D and 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.5
9.2 2D surface integrals in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20.6
L ECTURE 21 9.3 Center of gravity of a volume . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.1
9.4 Center of gravity of an area . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.4
9.5 Center of gravity of a curve . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.5
9.6 Composite bodies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21.6
L ECTURE 22 9.7 Surface of Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.1
9.8 Centroid Frame Invariance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.2
10 Moment of Inertia 22.3
10.1 2D moment of inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.3
10.2 Physical interpretation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4
10.2.1 Conservation of angular momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.4
10.2.2 Stress in a beam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.5
10.3 Parallel Axis Theorem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22.5
L ECTURE 23 10.4 Polar moment of inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.1
10.5 Moment of inertia in 3D . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.1
10.6 Introduction to tensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.2
10.6.1 Tensors as operators on vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.2
10.6.2 Invariance of tensors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.2
10.7 Moment of inertia tensor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.3
10.7.1 Applications to dynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.3
10.8 Moment of inertia about a specific axis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.4
10.9 Eigenvalues and eigenvectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23.5
L ECTURE 24 11 Kinematics of a Particle 24.1
11.1 Change of basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.1
11.2 Basis vectors in curvilinear coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.3
11.2.1 Cylindrical coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.3
11.2.2 Spherical Coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24.4
L ECTURE 25 11.3 Position, velocity, acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.1
11.3.1 Normal and tangential components of acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . 25.2
11.4 Natural basis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.3

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 11.5 Partial and total derivatives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.3
11.5.1 Total derivatives of unit vectors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.4
11.6 Velocity and acceleration in curvilinear coordinates . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.5
11.7 Angular velocity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.8
11.8 Relative Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25.9
L ECTURE R1 A Midterm Review R1.1
A.1 Linear Algebra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R1.1
A.2 Force Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R1.2
A.3 Moments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R1.3
A.4 Rigid Body Equilibrium . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R1.4
A.5 Trusses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R1.5
L ECTURE R2 B Final Review R2.1
B.1 Rigid body analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R2.1
B.2 Structural analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R2.4
B.3 Internal force analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R2.5
L ECTURE R3 B.4 Principle of Minimum Potential Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R3.1
B.5 Centroid and Moment of Inertia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . R3.3

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 Lecture 1 Introduction, units, linear algebra

0 Introduction
Welcome to Engineering Mechanics I. This class is usually referred to as “Statics,” but we’ll be covering some extra
material that typically falls into the category of “Dynamics.” For the majority of this class, we will be looking at
mechanical systems that do not move, or are in “static equilibrium.”

0.1 Overview
The majority of the course (15 weeks) will be spent on the Statics portion of the class. The governing equations of
statics are:
X X
F=0 M=0 (0.1)

where F are the force vectors and M are the moment vectors. In other words, “the sum of the forces and moments
are equal to zero.”
For dynamics, the governing equations are similar, except that we have time dependence. The governing equations
become:
X dP X dL
F= M= (0.2)
dt dt
where P is the momentum vector and L is the angular momentum vectors.

0.2 Units
Let’s review some of the basic units that we will use in this course:

Base units Metric USCS

Length m ft
Time s s
Mass kg slug
Temperature ◦
C, K ◦ ◦
F, R
Derived units Metric USCS
Area,volume 2
m ,m 3
ft 2 , ft 3
Velocity, acceleration m/s ft/s, ft/s 2
Force N = kgm
s2 lb = slugfts2
Pressure Pa = mN2 psi = inlb2
Energy J = Nm ft lb
Power W = Js ft lb/s

Let’s make some notes about units. Specifically, note that units:
• can be multiplied, divided, cancelled, even square-rooted
• cannot be added or subtracted
Why do we care about units? Not only do they connect numbers to physically meaninful quantities, but they are
a great way to check your answer. If you find that you are adding different units together, or that the units of your
answer are wrong, you’ve probably made a mistake somewhere.

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1 Linear Algebra
Linear algebra is a deep and elegant branch of mathematics that has a wide variety of applications. In mechanics,
linear algebra is a framework for describing quantities in a systematic way that makes analysis easy. In this section:
introduce only the linear algebra that will be useful in this course.

1.1 Vectors
Before defining vectors, we need to define scalar quantities:
Definition 1.1. A scalar quantity is specified by its magnitude only

What are some examples of scalar quantites?

• mass (m)
• time (t)
• volume (V )
• speed (s)
What is a vector?
Definition 1.2. A vector quantity is specified by both a magnitude and a direction. A vector quantity is expressed as
v, v , v , ~v
∼

What are some examples of vector quantities?

• position (x)
• velocity (v)

• force (f)

Notice how I drew the angle with respect to a dotted line. Why draw the dotted line like that, instead of straight
down, or up? I implicitly chose a coordinate system.

1.1.1 Coordinate system

Definition 1.3. A coordinate system is a convention for measuring locations in space.
Examples:

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 y z
z0

y0

L
y0
θ
x0 y

x0 x x

2D Cartesian coordinate system Polar coordinate system 3D Cartesian system

Notes:

• There are 3D polar coordinate systems too (spherical and cylindrical) but they are ugly and horrible and not
too useful right now. In general, we can get along pretty well by simply using trigonometry.
• The number of dimensions must always match the number of coordinate variables.
• When working in 3D, we use a right-handed system.

z z x

RH LH LH
y x y

x y z

x y

RH z RH x

y z

It’s really important to get comfortable with this because it will be used a lot when we get to moments.

1.1.2 Component representation

There are two ways of representing vectors in component representation:
• matrix form
• unit vector form

Example 1.1

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 Write the following figure in component notation

4m

2m
2m

First: we need to define a coordinate system. Let the upward pointing axis be z. Then the vector is
" #
2m
x = 2m (1.1)
4m

1.1.3 Converting to/from angular representation

Because of the way problems are specified, it is often necessary to convert to and from magnitude-angle notation
to coordinate notation (and back)

Example 1.2
Convert the vector to rectangular coordinates:

√
y = (8m) sin(60◦ ) = 4 3m
8m
L=

θ = 60◦
x = (8m) cos(60◦ ) = 4m

The x component is L cos θ and the y component is L sin θ so the resultant vector is
 
4m
x= √ (1.2)
4 3m

We will have to do this for 3D vectors as well:

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 Example 1.3
Find the component representation of the following vector:

L = 1m

φ = 60◦

y
x

θ = 45◦

We can find the z component directly:

√
z = (1m) sin(60◦ ) = 3/2m (1.3)

It is more tricky to find the x and y magnitudes. First we have to find the magnitude of the “projected” vector,
which is (1m) cos(60◦ ) = 1/2m. Now, we can compute the x and y magnitudes:

1 1
x = 1/2m cos(45◦ ) = √ m y = 1/2m cos(45◦ ) = √ m (1.4)
2 2 2 2
So the component representation is  √ 
1/2√2m
x = 1/2
√ 2m
 (1.5)
3/2m

1.1.4 Vector algebra

The nice thing about vectors (especially in the component notation) is that we can add, subtract, and scale them
easily.

• Vector addition:
a b
h i h i
a = ax b = bx (1.6)
y y

then I can add them together as

a +b
h i
c = a + b = ax + bx (1.7)
y y

Pictorally:

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 a b

b a b
+
a
=
c b

• Vector subtraction:
a −b
h i
c = a − b = ax − bx (1.8)
y y

c=a−b
a

Note that in the picture, it is clear that a = b + c.

• Scalar multiplication:
αa
h i
αa = αax (1.9)
y

Pictorally, mulitplying by a scalar simply changes the magnitude of the vector by the value of that scalar.
• What about vector multiplication?

1.1.5 Unit vectors

Since we can add, subtract, and multiply vectors, we can define the following:
" # " # " #
1 0 0
î = 0 ĵ = 1 k̂ = 0 (1.10)
0 0 1

Then we can write the vector in the above example as

x = (2m)i + (2m)j + (2m)k (1.11)

I prefer to avoid using unit vectors (so I probably won’t use them much in lecture) but there’s nothing wrong with
them and you should feel free to use them if you like.

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1.2 Matrices
Matrices (and vectors) are useful tools for organizing the equations that we have to solve.
Definition 1.4. A matrix is a set of numbers organized in a grid
(It’s a simple definition but it will do for now.)
Examples of matrices:
" #
h
1 2
i 1 2 3 h
9 3 2 1
i
3 4 4 5 6 0 3 1 2 (1.12)
| {z } 7 8 9 | {z }
2x2 2x4
| {z }
3x3

Notes:
• [# rows] x [# columns]
• nx1: n-D vectors
• nxn: square
• Notation: A
• Addition/subtraction/scalar multiplication works if same size

1.2.1 Matrix matrix multiplication

Matrices A and B can be multiplied if # colums of A = # rows of B
 
a
11 a12 ... a1q  b11 b12 ... b1r
a21 a22 ... a2q   b21 b22 ... b2r 
 .. .. .. ..   . .. .. ..  (1.13)
. . . .  .. . . . 
ap1 ap2 ... apq bq1 bq2 ... bqr
| {z }| {z }
pxq qxr

The result is: P P P

Pi a1i bi1 Pi a1i bi2 ... Pi a1i bir

 i a2i bi1 i a2i bi2 ... i a2i bir 
 .. .. .. ..  (1.14)

P . P . . P .

api bi1 i api bi2 ... i api bir
| i {z }
pxr

a matrix with the number of rows of A and number of columns of B.

Example 1.4
" # 
1 3 2 2 0  h
3 = (1)(2) + (3)(1) + (2)(1) (1)(0) + (3)(3) + (2)(4) 7 17
h i i
0 5 9 1 (0)(2) + (5)(1) + (9)(1) (0)(0) + (3)(5) + (9)(4) = 14 51 (1.15)
| {z } 1 4 | {z }
2x3 2x2
| {z }
3x2

Example 1.5
" #" # " # " #
3 1 4 0 (3)(0) + (1)(2) + (4)(5) 22
8 1 3 2 = (8)(0) + (1)(2) + (3)(5) = 17 (1.16)
1 4 0 5 (1)(0) + (4)(2) + (0)(5) 8
| {z } |{z} | {z }
3x3 3x1 3x1

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 Notice that the matrix “ate” the vector and turned it into another vector. This is actually a very nice way of
looking at matrices: we can think of them as machines that turn a vector into another vector.

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 Lecture 2 Vector products, matrix multiplication, linear systems

1.2.2 Determinants
You may have (hopefully) seen the determinant of a matrix before. It may seem like a rather odd quantity, but its
usefulness will become apparent as we use it in the course. In particular, we will use it a lot when computing cross
products and when solving linear systems. A rigorous definition of the determinant is beyond the scope of this
course, so instead we will introduce it by example.

Example 1.6
For a 2x2 matrix:
1 2 1 2
h i  
det 3 4 = 3 4 = (1)(4) − (2)(3) = 4 − 6 = −2 (1.17)

Example 1.7
For a 3x3 matrix: two ways of computing
" #
1 2 3
det 4 5 2 = (1)((5)(1) − (2)(3)) − (2)((4)(1) − (2)(0)) + (3)((4)(3) − (5)(0)) (1.18)
0 3 1
= (1)(−1) − (2)(4) + (3)(12) = 27 (1.19)

Alternatively, we can compute the diagonals

(1)(5)(1) + (2)(2)(0) + (3)(4)(3) − (1)(2)(3) − (3)(5)(0) − (2)(4)(1) = 27 (1.20)

Let’s make a few notes about the properties of the determinant. Again, these properties will come in handy later
on.

• If the vectors that make up two of the columns of the matrix are parallel, then the determinant will be zero.
• If the third vector is equal to a combination of the first two, the determinant will be zero.
• If A is a n × n matrix and α is a scalar, then det(αA) = αn det(A)

1.3 Dot product

Suppose we have two vectors:
" # " #
1 4
a= 2 b= 5 (1.21)
3 6

How can we multiply them together?

" #" # " #
1 4 4
2 5 [1 2 3] 5 (1.22)
3 6 6
| {z } | {z }
bad good!

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This is called the dot (or inner) product, and it gives a scalar value:
" #
4
[1 2 3] 5 = (1)(4) + (2)(5) + (3)(6) = 32 (1.23)
6
This operation is called the dot product and is denoted by
a·b (1.24)

1.3.1 Angular representation

In polar form the dot product is computed simply as
a · b = (magnitude of a)(magnitude of b) cos(angle between a and b) (1.25)
Notes:
• What if the angle between a and b is 90◦ ? Then a · b is zero.
• What is a · b = 0? Then cos θ = 0. So a · b = 0 if and only if they are perpendicular (orthogonal) to each other.

1.3.2 Vector norm

We know how to convert from angular to component representation; how do we convert from component to polar?

5
2 =
4
√ 32 +

tan−1 (3/4) = 19.89◦

4

If we have a vector " #

vx
v = vy (1.26)
vz
then the magnitude is q √
vx2 + vy2 + vz2 = v · v ≡ ||v|| (1.27)
This is called the vector norm. Some properties of the norm are:
• ||v|| ≥ 0
• ||v|| = 0 if and only if v = 0
• ||αv|| = |α|||v||
• ||u + v|| ≤ ||u|| + ||v|| (the triangle inequality)
With this terminology, we can write this very useful equation:
u · v = ||u||||v|| cos θ (1.28)

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1.3.3 Unit vectors
Whenver we have a nonzero vector, we can divide by its magnitude to get a unit vector. Given v as we had earlier,
then we define " #
1 vx
v̂ = vy (1.29)
||v|| vz

Example 1.8
Compute the unit vector corresponding to the position vector
" #
1m
x = 2m (1.30)
3m

The magnitude is p √ √
||x|| = 1m2 + 4m2 + 9m2 = 14m2 = 14m (1.31)
(Note that the units are in meters.)
Now we divide:  √ 
1/√14
x̂ = 2/√14 (1.32)
3/ 14
Note that the unit vector is (ironically) unitless. This should always be true of unit vectors.

Unit vectors are very nice because they allow us to decouple the magnitude of a vector from its direction.

Example 1.9
Consider a cable that is attached to a point on a wall as shown.

5m

y
x f =tn
4m
3m

The cable is pulled so that it has a tension of t. Compute the force vector acting by the cable on the wall.
We will do this sort of thing a lot in this class! The thing to in this situation is recognize that we can write the
force vector in this way
f =tn (1.33)
where t = ||f||, the magnitude of the force. We already know t – it was given to us. Now, we need to compute
n. How do we do this? We know that the force will be in the same direction of the cable. So, we can find the
unit vector that is parallel to the cable, and it will serve as a unit vector for the force too. The vector going along

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 the cable is "
# " # " #
3m 0 4m
d = 4m − 0 = 3m (1.34)
0 5m −5m
(Remember to be careful about the signs!) Now, we just need to normalize d:
p √
(1.35)
p
||d|| = (3m)2 + (4m)2 + (5m)2 = 25m2 + 25m2 = 5 2m

so our unit vector is  √ 

d 4/5√2
n= =  3/5 √2  (1.36)
||d||
−1/ 2
and our force vector is  √ 
4t/5√2
f = t n = 3t/5√ 2 (1.37)
−t/ 2

1.3.4 Projection
The dot product allows us to compute the projection of one vector onto another. It determines the “amount” of the
vector that is in the direction of the other. For example:
u

θ
θ
|| cos
||u

The projection is ||u|| cos θ. We can write this in terms of the dot product:

||u||||v|| cos θ u·v

||u|| cos θ = = = u · v̂ (1.38)
||v|| ||v||

Example 1.10
Consider a train moving along a track, subjected to a constant force:

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 1m
h i
xf = 1m

x
0m
h i
xi = 0m

0N
h i
f = 1N

What is the effective force that is acting in the direction of the motion of the car?
1m
h i
∆x = xf − xi = 1m (1.39)

The projection is:

∆x · f (1m)(0N) + (1m)(1N) 1
= √ =√ N (1.40)
||∆x|| 2m 2
Note that the unit is Newtons, which is what we expect.

1.4 Cross product

We will also make extensive use of the vector cross product, especially when we start talking about moments.
Here, we will just define it and do an example.

1.4.1 Component representation

Suppose we have two vectors
" # " #
ux vx
u = uy v = vy (1.41)
uz vz

The cross product between them is " #

uy vz − uz vy
u × v ≡ uz vx − ux vz (1.42)
ux vy − uy vx

Fortunately, there’s a nice mnemonic for remembering how to compute the cross product using the î, ĵ, k̂ unit vec-
tors:;
" #
î ĵ k̂
u × v = det ux uy uz = î (uy vz − uz vy ) + ĵ (uz vx − ux vz ) + k̂ (ux vy − uy vx ) (1.43)
vx vy vz
(1.44)

Pictorally:

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 u×v
v

v×u

Notes:
• u × v is orthogonal to both u and v (you’ll show this in your homework)
• How do we know which way it points? Right hand rule.
• And v × u = −u × v

Example 1.11
Compute the cross product between
" # " #
1 2
a= 2 b= 4 (1.45)
3 6

What do you think the cross product will be? It should be zero because b = 2a which means they point in the
same direction.
Let’s find out: " #
î ĵ k̂
a × b = 1 2 3 = î (12 − 12) + ĵ (6 − 6) + k̂ (4 − 4) = 0 (1.46)
2 4 6
exactly as we expected!

1.4.2 Scalar cross product

Unlike the dot product, the cross product does not generalize naturally to 2D (or any other dimension, for that
matter). When working with 2D vectors, we can write them in 3D:
" # " #
ux
h i ux v
h i vx
u = u → uy x
v = v → vy (1.47)
y 0 y 0

Then their cross product is

" #
î ĵ k̂
u × v = ux uy 0 = k (ux vy − uy vx ) (1.48)
vx vy 0

2D cross products have a k̂ component only, so just keep track of the magnitude:
u u
h i
||u × v|| = vx vy (1.49)
x y

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1.4.3 Angular representation
This is where component representation really shines, because there’s just no easy way to compute the cross
product in angular representation. However, we do have the following important identity:

||u × v|| = ||u|| ||v|| sin θ (1.50)

Notes:
• When is the magnitude of the cross product maximized? When u and v are orthogonal (perpendicular) to
each other.

• When is the magnitude of the cross product minimized? When u and v are parallel to each other. (compare
to dot product!)

Example 1.12
Given

a = [6 6 1] b = [1 5 3] (1.51)

So
" # " # " #
î ĵ k̂ 18 − 5 13
a×b= 6 6 1 = 1 − 18 = −17 (1.52)
1 5 3 30 − 6 24

Example 1.13

Compute the cross product between î and ĵ.

What do you think it will be?

" # " #
1 0
î = 0 ĵ = 1 (1.53)
0 0
" #
î ĵ k̂
î × ĵ = 1 0 0 = î (0) + ĵ (0) + k̂ (1) = k̂ (1.54)
0 1 0

1.4.4 Cross product with unit vectors

In the last example we showed that î × ĵ = k̂. We can also show that

î × î = 0̂ î × ĵ = k̂ î × k̂ = −ĵ (1.55)
ĵ × î = −k̂ ĵ × ĵ = 0̂ ĵ × k̂ = î (1.56)
k̂ × î = ĵ k̂ × ĵ = −î k̂ × k̂ = 0̂ (1.57)

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Let a = ax î + ay ĵ + az k̂ and b = bx î + by ĵ + bz k̂. Then we can compute the cross product by multiplying these directly:

a × b =(ax î + ay ĵ + az k̂) × (bx î + by ĵ + bz k̂) (1.58)

(1.59)

ax 
= bx (î × î) + ax by (î × ĵ) +ax bz (î × k̂) +
| {z } | {z }
k̂ −ĵ

+ay bx (ĵ × î) +

ay  
(ĵ ×
by  ĵ) + ay bz (ĵ × k̂) + (1.60)
| {z } | {z }
−k̂ î

(1.61)


+az bx (k̂ × î) +az by (k̂ × ĵ) +
ak 
bz  × k̂)
(k̂ 
| {z } | {z }
ĵ −î

Collecting terms we get

a × b =(ay bz − az by ) î + (az bx − ax bz ) ĵ + (ax by − ay bx ) k̂ (1.62)

1.5 Linear systems

Something that we will have to do regularly is solve systems of linear equations. For example:

2x + 3y + z = 4 (1.63)
4x + 5y + z = 2 (1.64)
4y + 3z = 2 (1.65)

How do we solve this system?

How can we write this set of equations using matrices and vectors?
" #" # " #
2 3 1 x 4
4 5 1 y = 2 (1.66)
0 4 3 z 2
| {z } |{z} |{z}
A x b

where A is called the coefficient matrix, and x is the “vector of unknowns.”

1.5.1 Cramer’s rule

Cramer’s rule is an easy way to solve linear systems of equations without too much work. Suppose we have this
coefficient matrix (note: this introduces some slightly new notation)
" #
px qx rx
py qy ry ≡ [p q r] (1.67)
pZ qz rz

so that we have the linear system

[p q r] x = b (1.68)
Then the solution is given by

det [b q r] det [p b r] det [p q b]

x1 = x2 = x3 = (1.69)
det [p q r] det [p q r] det [p q r]

(Notice that this can be generalized to n-dimensional systems. But in this class we’ll pretty much stick to 2 and 3.)

Example 1.14

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 Let’s solve the system we had before:
" #" # " #
2 3 1 x 4
4 5 1 y = 2 (1.70)
0 4 3 z 2

To save some work:

det(A) = (2)(3)(5) + (3)(1)(0) + (1)(4)(4) − (2)(1)(4) − (3)(4)(3)(1)(5)(0) = 30 + 16 − 8 − 36 = 2 (1.71)

Now we only have to compute three more determinants:

" #
4 3 1
det 2 5 1 = 60 + 6 + 8 − 16 − 18 − 10 = 30 (1.72)
2 4 3
" #
2 4 1
det 4 2 1 = 12 + 0 + 8 − 4 − 48 − 0 = −32 (1.73)
0 2 3
" #
2 3 4
det 4 5 2 = 20 + 0 + 64 − 16 − 24 − 0 = 44 (1.74)
0 4 2

So our solution is " # " #

x 15
y = −16 (1.75)
z 22

Notes:
• What happens when the determinant of the coefficient matrix is zero? The solution vector is infinite
⇒ A solution exists for the system if and only if the determinant of the coefficient matrix is nonzero.
– Always a good idea to check the determinant first. It will be useful in solving the system, and it may help
you to find errors in your work.
• What if the coefficient matrix is not square? You can only solve the system with square matrices.
⇒ Number of solutions must equal number of unknowns.

1.5.2 Proof of Cramer’s rule

One of the nice things about Cramer’s rule is that it’s very easy to prove. Suppose we have the 3D system
" #
x
det [p q r] y = p x + q y + r z = b (1.76)
z
Let us consider the following determinant:
det [(p x + q y + r z) q r] which is equal to det [b q r] (1.77)
We know by the linearity of the determinant that we can write
det [(p x + q y + r z) q r] = x det [p q r] + y det [q q r] + z det [r q r] (1.78)
The latter two terms have a repeated column, so they must be zero. So we have
x det [p q r] = det [b q r] (1.79)
det [b q r]
x= (1.80)
det [p q r]
and so on for y and z.

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