PHASE-II

Sec:SR’S Date: 18-09-2023

TOPIC: VECTORS SUB: MATHS

Name of the Student: ________________ SYNOPSIS I.D. NO:

PREPARED BY: Mr.K.SRINIVAS

_________________________________________________________________________
Vectors and their representation:

Vector quantities are specified by definite magnitude and define direction. A vector is generally
represented by a directed line segment, say AB . A is called the initial point and is called the
terminal point. The magnitude of vector AB is expressed by AB .

Zero vector: A vector of zero magnitude i.e. which has the same initial and terminal point, is
called a zero vector or null vector. It is denoted by O. The direction of zero vector is
indeterminate.

Unit vector: A vector of unit magnitude in the direction of a vector a is called unit vector along
a
a and is denoted by â , symbolically â  .
a

Equal vectors: Two vectors are said to be equal if they have the same magnitude, direction and
represent the same physical quantity.

Position vector of a point: Let O be a fixed origin, then the position vector of a point P is the
vector OP . If a and b are position vectors of two points A and B, then AB  b  a = position
vector of B – position vector of A.


Distance formula: Distance between the two points A  a  and B b is AB  a  b

Collinear vectors: Two vectors are said to be collinear if their directed line segments are parallel
irrespective of their directions. Collinear vectors are also called parallel vectors. If they have the
same direction they are named as like vectors otherwise unlike

Condition for two vectors to be collinear:

1. Two vectors a & b are collinear or parallel then a x b  0 or

2. Two vectors a & b are collinear or parallel then a  tb  t  R  or

3. Two vectors a & b are collinear or parallel then there exists some constants x and y such that
xa  yb  0 where not all x, y are zero.

4. Two vectors a & b are not always dependent, when they are collinear or parallel then they are
linearly dependent

Condition for three points to be collinear:

3. Three points A, B, & C with position vectors a, b, & c respectively, are collinear then
AB  AC  O

4. Three points A, B, & C with position vectors a, b, & c respectively, are collinear then there
exists some constants x , y and z such that xa  yb  zc  0 where x + y + z = 0 but not all x, y, z
are zero.

Condition for three vectors to be coplanar:

1. Two vectors are always coplanar (but not always linearly dependent)

2. Three vectors are coplanar vectors then there exist some constants t ,   R such that
a  b  tc

3. Three vectors a, b, c are coplanar vectors then a . b  c  0 (i.e. volume of a parallelepiped formed

by coterminous vectors a, b, c , i.e.  a b c   0 )

 

4. Three vectors are a, b, c are coplanar, then there exists constants x,y and z such that
xa  yb  zc  0 where not all x,y,z are zero.

5. Three linearly dependent vectors are coplanar but three coplanar vectors are not always
linearly dependent

Condition for four points to be coplanar:

1. Three points in a space are always coplanar

2. Four points A,B,C & D with position vectors a, b, c & d respectively, are coplanar, then there
exists some constants t ,   R such that AB   AC  t AD

3. Four points A,B,C & D with position vectors a, b, c & d respectively, are coplanar, then
AB.AC  AD  0 (i.e.  AB AC AD   0 ) or b  a c  a d  a   0 or
d b c   d c a   d a b   a b c 
       

4. Four points A,B,C & D with position vectors a, b, c & d respectively, are coplanar, then there
exists constants x,y,z and w such that xa  yb  zc  wd  0 where x + y + z + w = 0 but not all x,
y, z, w are zero.

5. Any three non coplanar vectors are linearly independent

Section formula:
Line segment joining the points A and B with position vectors a , b is divided by a point C whose
na  mb
position vector c such that AC:CB :: m:n, is given by c  , If C is amid point then
mn
ab
c
2

Linear independence and dependence of vectors

1. Linearly independent vectors :

A set of non zero vectors a1 , a2 , a3 ,...., an is said to be linearly independent if

x1 a1  x2 a2  x3 a3  ....  xn an  0  x1  x2  x3  ....  xn  0

2. Linearly dependent vectors :

A set of non zero vectors a1 , a2 , a3 ,...., an is said to be linearly dependent if there exists some

constants x1 , x2 , x3 ,...., xn such that not all zero and x1 a1  x2 a2  x3 a3  ....  xn an  0

Angle bisectors of two given vectors

a b
A vector in the direction of the bisector of the angle between the two vectors a and b is  .
a b

 
Hence bisector of the angle between the two vectors a and b is  â  bˆ , where   R  . Bisector of

 
the interior angle between a and b is  â  bˆ ,   R  and exterior angle between a and b is

 
 â  bˆ ,   R  .

Note:

Thus the equations of the bisectors of the angles between the lines r  a  b and r  a  c are:

  
r  a  t bˆ  cˆ and r  a  p cˆ  bˆ 
Dot product of two vectors:

1. a . b  a b cos 

2. maximum value of a . b is a b and minimum value of a . b is  a b

 
2 2 2
3. a.b a b

4. a . b  b . a (dot product satisfies commutative law)

5. Geometrical interpretation of scalar product:

 a.b  
a.b  b
Scalar projection of a vector on b is and vector projection of a on b is  and vector
b  b b
 
 a.b  b
perpendicular to b is a   
 b b
 

 
6. a. b  c  a.b  a.c (dot product satisfies distributive law over addition)

  
2 2
7. a . a  a  a  a2

2 2 2
8. a  b  a  b  2a. b

2 2 2 2
9. a  b  c  a  b  c  2a. b  2b. c  2c. a

2
10. a  b  a  b  2 a  b
2
 2 2

11. If a is any vector then a .i i  a. j j  a.k k  a      
(The sum of the projection vectors of a on three mutually perpendicular planes is equal to a )

a .b
Angle between two vectors a & b is given by cos   ,   [0,  ]
a b

5. If a , b are unit vectors and  be angle between them then

   
i). a  b  2 cos   ii). a  b  2sin  
2 2

iii). If a , b are unit vectors and their sum is also unit vector then a  b  3

6. If r is a non zero vector and coplanar with two vectors a & b then r . a  0 & r . b  0 which
implies a & b are collinear vectors.

7. If r is a non zero vector and r . a  0, r . b  0 & r . c  0 then the vectors which implies a, b & c
are coplanar vectors.

7a. If a , b , c are non-zero, non coplanar vector and v.a  v.b  v.c  0 then v must be a null
vector

Cross product of two vectors:

1. If a, b are two vectors and  is the angle between them, then a  b  a b sin  nˆ , where n̂ is the

unit vector perpendicular to both a and b such that a, b and n̂ forms a right handed screw
system.
If r  a  b , then r is perpendicular to both a, b

2. Geometrically a  b = area of the parallelogram whose two adjacent sides are represented by

a and b .

2a. Parallelogram, whose adjacent sides are a and b has its diagonals as a  b and a  b

2b. Parallelogram, whose adjacent sides are a  b and a  b has its area 2 a  b

3. A vector of magnitude ‘r’ and perpendicular to the plane of a and b , then


r ab 
ab

ab
4. If  is the angle between a and b , then sin   .
a b

5a. If a, b and c are the position vectors of 3 points A, B and C respectively then area of
1 1
ABC  a  b  b  c  c  a = AB  AC
2 2

5b. The points A, B and C are collinear if a  b  b  c  c  a  0 .

5c. Vector perpendicular to the plane of A,B and C is  a  b  b  c  c  a  

a  b  b c  c  a
5d. Length of the altitude drawn from A to the side BC is
bc

   
2 2 2 a .a a .b
6. For any two vectors a and b ; a  b  a b  a .b 
2
. (Lagrange’s Identity)
a .b b.b

i j k
7. a  b  a1 a2 a3 if a  a1 i  a2 j  a3 k , b  b1 i  b2 j  b3 k ,
b1 b2 b3

   
8. In general, a  b   b  a (i.e. vector cross product does not satisfy commutative property)

1
15. Area of any quadrilateral whose diagonal vectors are d1 and d 2 is given d1  d 2 .
2

18. If a  b  c  0 then a  b  b  c  c  a

   a  j   a  k 
2 2 2 2
19. For any vector a , a  i 2a

Application of vectors:
(a) Work done against a constant force F over a displacement s is defined as W = F . s

(b) The tangential velocity V of a body moving in a circle is given by V   r , where r is the
position vector of the point P.

(c) The moment of F about ‘O’ is defined as M  r  F , where r is the position vector of P
w.r.t. ‘O’. The direction of M is along the normal to the plane OPN such that r , F & M form a
right handed system.

(d) Moment of the couple =  r1  r2   F , where r1 and r2 are position vectors of the point of the

application of the forces F and  F .

Dot product of three vectors:

(ii) Scalar triple product geometrically represents the volume of the parallelepiped whose
three coterminous edges are represented by a, b and c i.e., V = a b c  .
 

1.  a b c   a . b  c  a  b . c  b . c  a  b  c . a  c . a  b  c  a . b
 

a1 a2 a3
2.  a b c   b1 b2 b3 if a  a1 i  a2 j  a3 k , b  b1 i  b2 j  b3 k , c  c1 i  c2 j  c3 k
 
c1 c2 c3
3. If angle between the vectors b & c is  and that of the plane containing the vectors b & c and
 
a is  then  a b c   a b c sin  cos    
2 

4.  ka lb mc   k .l.m  a b c  and  a  b c d    a c d   b c d 
         

5.  a  b b  c c  a   2  a b c 
   

6.  a  b b  c c  a   0
 

7.  a a  b a  b  c    a b c 
   

a.a a.b a.c

2
8. b.a b.b b.c   a b c 
c.a c.b c.c

a.l a.m a.n

9. b.l b.m b.n   a b c  . l m n 
c.l c.m c.n

a i b c j k a1 a2 a3
10. The value for a. p b . p c  p  p1 p2 p3 b1 b2 b3 =  p  q   a  b b  c c  a  =
a  q b  q c .q q1 q2 q3 c1 c2 c3

 p  q  a b c
11. If a , b are non zero and non collinear vectors then find the value of [abi ]i  [ab j ] j  [abk ]k =
axb

13. If a, b, c are three mutually perpendicular vectors , then  a b c   a b c

 

Cross product of three vectors:

1. The vector coplanar with a and b which is perpendicular to c is  a  b  c and  

     
a  b  c = a.c b  a.b c

 
2. In general a  b  c is not equal to a  b  c  
2
3. a  b b  c c  a   a b c 
   
4. a  (b  c)  b  (c  a)  c  ( a  b) = 0 and hence  a  (b  c) b  (c  a) c  ( a  b)  = 0 and hence we
 
     
conclude that a  b  c, b  c  a, c  a  a are coplanar vectors.

5. If a, b, c are three mutually perpendicular vectors , with magnitude one , then the value of
a b b  c c  a  +  a  b b  c c  a  +  a  (b  c) b  (c  a) c  ( a  b)  is 3
     

  
6. If a is any vector then i  a  i  j  a  j  k  a  k  2a   
Dot product of four vectors:

  
a.c a.d
1) a  b . c  d 
b.c b.d

      
2. a  b . c  d  b  c . a  d  c  a . b  d  0  
Cross product of four vectors:

   
If a  b  c  d  a b d  c  a b c  d
   

If  a  b   c  d    a  d   0,  acd  bad   0
Reciprocal vectors:

1.If a, b, c and a ', b ', c ' are two sets of non coplanar vectors such that

a . a '  1, b . b '  1, c . c '  1, then the two systems are called reciprocal system of vectors.

bc ca ab

2. a '  , b'  , c' 
a b c  a b c  a b c 
     

  
3. b . a '  0, c . a '  0 & a . b '  0, c . b '  0 & a . c '  0, b . c '  0 and a  b  c . a '  b '  c '  3

1
4.  a ' b ' c ' 
a b c 
 

6. i , j , k are self reciprocal vectors

Miscellaneous:

1 1
1. The angle between two diagonals of a cube is cos  
3

2. The angle between any edge and a face not containing that edge of a regular tetrahedron is
 1 
cos 1  
 3
3. The shortest distance between the diagonals of a rectangular paralleloppiped whose sides are
bc ca ab
a,b,c and the edges not meeting it are, , ,
b2  c2 c2  a2 a 2  b2

4. The perpendicular distance of a corner of a unit cube from a diagonal not passing through it
2
is
3

Tetrehedron:

1 Tetrahedron is a figure bounded by four planes, not all of which pass through the same point.
It has four vertices, each vertex arising as a point of intersection of three of the four planes, It
has six edges.102) The four lines drawn for the vertices of a tetrahedron to the centroids of the
opposite faces meet in a point, known as centroid of the tetrahedron, which is at three fourth of
the distance from each vertex to the opposite face.

In case the tetrahedron is regular centroid is equidistant from the vertices and the four faces of
the tetrahedron. If the vertices of a tetrahedron are  xi , yi , zi  , i = 1,2,3,4 then coordinates of its

  xi y , z
i i
centroid is  , .
 4 4 4 


If a, b, c, & d are position vectors of the vertices A,B,C & D respectively of a tetrahedron ABCD,
abcd
then position vector of its centroid is
4

2. In a regular tetrahedron, pair of opposite edges are perpendicular

3. The volume of the tetrahedron OABC with O as origin and the position vectors of A, B and C
1
being a, b and c , respectively is given by V =  a, b, c 
6 

4. Each of the four faces of a regular tetrahedron subtends the same volume at the centroid.

7. If two pairs of opposite edges of a tetrahedron are perpendicular then the opposite edges of the
third pair are also perpendicular to each other

8. The sum of the squares of the two opposite edges is same for each pair of opposite edges.

12. If the lengths of two opposite edges of a tetrahedron are a and b, shortest distance between
1
them is d. and the angle between them is  ,then the volume of the tetrahedron is abdSin
6

13. If the four faces of a tetrahedron are represented by the equations

      
r.  i   j  0, r.  j   k  0, r.  k   i  0 and r.  i   j   k  P 
4 P3
then volume of the tetrahedron (in cubic units) is
6

14. The angle between any edge and a face not containing that edge of a regular tetrahedron is
 1 
cos 1  
 3
15. If a plane meets the coordinate axes at A,B,C then the foot of the perpendicular from the
origin will be the orthocenter of the triangle ABC.

1
16. Angle between two faces of a regular tetrahedron is cos 1  
3