Chapter 10: Vectors and the

Geometry of Space
Section 10.3
The Dot Product of Two Vectors

Written by Richard Gill

Associate Professor of Mathematics
Tidewater Community College, Norfolk Campus, Norfolk, VA
With Assistance from a VCCS LearningWare Grant
In our first two lessons on vectors, you have studied:
• Properties of vectors;
• Notation associated with vectors;
• Vector Addition;
• Multiplication by a Scalar.
In this lesson you will study the dot product of two vectors. The dot product
of two vectors generates a scalar as described below.

The Definition of Dot Product

 
The dot product of two vectors u  u1 , u 2 and v  v1 , v2 is
 
u  v  u1v1  u2 v2 .

 
The dot product of two vectors u  u1 , u 2 , u3 and v  v1 , v2 , v3 is
 
u  v  u1v1  u2 v2  u3v3 .
Properties of the Dot Product
  
Let u, v, and w be vectors in the plane or in space
and let c be a scalar.
   
1. The commutative property holds : u  v  v  u.
      
2. The distributive property holds : u  (v  w)  u  v  u  w
     
3. c(u  v)  cu  v  u  cv
  
4. 0  v  0
  2
5. v  v  v

The proof of property 5.


Suppose v  v1 , v2 , v3 .
  2 2 2
v  v  v1 , v2 , v3  v1 , v2 , v3  v1  v2  v3
2 Proofs of other
2 2 2 2 2 2 2
v  v1  v2  v3  v1  v2  v3 properties are
  2 similar.
Therefore v  v  v
Consider two non-zero vectors. We can use their dot
product and their magnitudes to calculate the angle
between the two vectors. We begin with the sketch.
 
v u

u
 
v
From the Law of Cosines where c is the
side opposite the angle theta:

c 2  a 2  b 2  2ab cos
 2 2 2  
v  u  u  v  2 u v cos
From the properties that we just developed for dot product
2  
we have that w  w  w. It follows that :
 2    
v  u  ( v  u )  (v  u )
     
 v  ( v  u )  u  (v  u )
       
 v v  v u  u v  u u
2   2
 v  2u  v  u

From the previous slide  2 2 2  

v  u  u  v  2 u v cos 
2   2 2 2  
Substituting from above v  2u  v  u  u  v  2 u v cos 
   
Simplifying  2u  v  2 u v cos 
   
u  v  u v cos 
 
u v
cos    
u v
You have just witnessed the proof of the following
theorem:
If  is the angle between two nonzero vectors
 
  uv
u and v then cos    .
u v

Example 1
Find the angle between the vectors:
 
u   3, 5 and v  4,1 .

Solution
 
u v  3, 5  4,1  12  5 7
cos      
u v  3, 5 4,1 9  5 16  1 14 17
cos  0.4537......
  2.04 or 117.0 
Example 2
 
Find the angle between ve ctors w and z if :
 
w  - 3, 1, - 2 and z  3, - 3, - 6 .

Solution    3,1,  2  3,  3,  6
u v  9  3  12
cos      0
u v  3,1,  2 3,  3,  6 9  1  4 9  9  36

 
2

True or False? Whenever two non-zero vectors are

perpendicular, their dot product is 0.

Congratulate yourself if you chose

Think before you click. True!
True or False? Whenever two non-zero vectors are
perpendicular, their dot product is 0.

This is true. Since the two vectors are perpendicular,


the angle between them will be 90 or .


2
   
  u v u v  
cos  0 and cos        0  u  v  0
2 2 u v u v

True or False? Whenever you find the angle between

 
u v
two non-zero vectors the formula cos  u v

will generate angles in the interval 0    .
2
True or False? Whenever you find the angle between
 
u v
two non-zero vectors the formula cos  u v

will generate angles in the interval 0    .
2

This is False. For example, consider the vectors:

  y

u  4,1 and v  - 2,1 . 

 
uv
cos   


u v   
x





Finish this on your own then click for the answer.

True or False? Whenever you find the angle between
 
u v
two non-zero vectors the formula cos  u v

will generate angles in the interval 0    .
2
This is False. For example, consider the vectors:
 
u  4,1 and v  - 2,1 .
 
uv 4,1   2,1  8 1 9
cos        0.9762...
u v 4,1  2,1 17 5 85
  2.9 or 167.5
When the cosine is negative the angle between the two
vectors is obtuse.
An Application of the Dot Product: Projection

The Tractor Problem: Consider the familiar example

of a heavy box being dragged across the floor by a
rope. If the box weighs 250 pounds and the angle
between the rope and the horizontal is 25 degrees,
how much force does the tractor have to exert to
move the box?

v
25

Discussion: the force being exerted by the tractor

can be interpreted as a vector with direction of 25
degrees. Our job is to find the magnitude.
 The Tractor Problem, Slide 2: we are going to look at the
force vector as the sum of its vertical component vector
and its horizontal component. The work of moving the
box across the floor is done by the horizontal component.

v y
cos 25  1
v
 
v cos 25  v1

 v1 250
v    275.8 lbs 
cos 25 
0.9063...... v 
v2
Conclusion: the tractor has to exert 25 
a force of 275.8 lbs before the box  x
will move.
v1
Hint: for maximum accuracy, don’t round off until the
end of the problem. In this case, we left the value of
the cosine in the calculator and did not round off until
the end.
 The problem gets more complicated when the direction
in which the object moves is not horizontal or vertical.
y
  
In the sketch, u  w 1  w2 
 
so that w 1 is parallel to v
u
 
and w2 is orthogonal to w 1. 
 
w2 v w1
If a force represented
 x
by u is moving an object
 
at the origin in the w1 is called the projection of u onto
   
direction of v then all of v and is denoted as w1  projvu .

the work is being done by w2 is called the vector component of
  
the component w 1. u orthogonal to v.
A Vocabulary Tip:
When two vectors are perpendicular we say that they are orthogonal.
When a vector is perpendicular to a line or a plane we say that the vector is
normal to the line or plane.
y

The following theorem will 

prove very useful in the u
remainder of this course.

    
If u and v are nonzero vectors, then
  w2 v w1
the projection of u onto v can be
calculated as follows : x
 
  u  v   The quantity inside the parenthesis
projv u   2 v
 v  
  is a scalar so the projection of u onto
 
v is a multiple of vector v.
   
Example : if u is 5,9 and v is 6,3 find projv u and find the vector
 
component of u orthogonal to v.
  u  v    5,9  6,3 
  
proj v u   2 v    6,3
 v  2
   6,3 
 30  27  57 (5,9)
   6,3  6,3
 2 
45
 36  9  

 7.6, 3.8  w1


From the sketch, notice that

  
w 1  w2  u 


7.6, 3.8  w2  5, 9 (6,3)


w2  5, 9  7.6, 3.8   2.6, 5.2

    

 Work is traditionally defined as follows: W = FD where F is the constant
force acting along the line of motion and D is the distance traveled along
the line of motion.

Example: an object is pulled 12 feet across the floor using a force of 100
pounds. Find the work done if the force is applied at an angle of 50 degrees
above the horizontal.

Solution A: using W = FD we use the

100 lb projection of F in the x direction.

50 W  FD  (100 cos 50 )(12)  771.35 foot - pounds

12 ft

Solution B : note that the force vector in coordinate form is 100cos50 ,100 sin 50
and the direction vector is 12,0 . Note also that
100cos50 ,100 sin 50  12,0  100 cos 50 (12)  771.35 foot - pounds.
Two Ways to Calculate Work

Work W done by a constant force u moving its point of application

along vector v can be calculated by Method A or by Method B :
 
Method A : W  proj v u v

 
Method B : W  u  v

Example: Find the work done by a force of 20 lb acting in the direction

N50W while moving an object 4 ft due west.
 
SolutionA : W  projvu v  (20 lb)(cos 40 )(4 ft )

u W  61.28 ft lbs
50

v  
  SolutionB : u  20 cos140 ,20 sin 140 and v   4,0
u  20 and v  4
 
W  u  v  20 cos140 (4)  20 sin 140 (0)  61.28 ft lbs
The last topic of this lesson concerns Direction Cosines.

The direction angles of a nonzero vector v are the angles  ,  , and 

in the interval [0,  ] that v makes with the positive x-, y-, and z - axes.
The cosines of these direction angles, cos , cos , and cos ,

are called the direction cosines of vector v.

 v
We can calculate the direction cosines by k 
using the unit vectors along each positive
axis and the dot product.  

 
 j
v i v , v , v  1,0,0 v i
cos      1 2 3  1
v i v 1 v
 
v j v , v , v  0,1,0 v
cos      1 2 3  2
v j v 1 v
 
v k v , v , v  0,0,1 v
cos      1 2 3  3
v k v 1 v