Chapter 1: Vectors, Lines and Planes
Section 1.5: Applications of Vector Products
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Example 1.5.14
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If , under what conditions on B and C can not imply that ?
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Solution
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Mathematical Solution
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Figure 1.5.14(a) illustrates an example where but . The vectors A, B, and C must necessarily lie in the same plane and A must be to the right (or left) of both B and C.
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The following analysis is the basis for constructing any such example.
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Start with vectors A, B, C, respectively given by
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Figure 1.5.14(a) but
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For to hold, the following three equations must likewise hold.
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Depending on which component of A is nonzero, there are three solutions for B, namely,
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, ,
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If , the vector satisfies . In order that , it is necessary that and at least one of and be nonzero. Any vector satisfying those conditions will satisfy and will not equal C.
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A similar analysis can be made for each of the other two cases.
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The vectors shown in Figure 1.5.14(a), namely, A, B, C, and (or ) are respectively
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The solution for B was obtained from after choosing A and C arbitrarily, and setting .
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An alternate, but less productive, approach to this example equates the lengths of the cross products, so that = , where is the angle between A and B, and is the angle between A and C. All that can be determined from this approach is
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Maple Solution - Interactive
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Initialize
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Context Panel: Assign to a Name≻A
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Context Panel: Assign to a Name≻B
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Context Panel: Assign to a Name≻C
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Equate corresponding components of the vectors and
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Write the sequence of cross products and press the Enter key.
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Context Panel: Solve≻Solve for Variables≻b[2],b[3]
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Context Panel: Assign to a Name≻S[1]
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Obtain the vector B that corresponds to this solution
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Expression palette: Evaluation template
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Context Panel: Evaluate and Display Inline
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Type in as , a factored form of the vector B
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Cyclically permute the indices in to obtain alternate forms of the vector B
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If , the vector satisfies . In order that , it is necessary that and at least one of and be nonzero. Any vector satisfying those conditions will satisfy and will not equal C.
A similar analysis can be made for each of the other two cases.
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Maple Solution - Coded
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Initialize
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Install the Student MultivariateCalculus package.
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Define the vectors A, B, and C.
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Equate corresponding components of the vectors and
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Solve for B under the assumptions that , , or
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Apply the solve command.
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Obtain the vector B that corresponds to each solution
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Apply the eval command.
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Type in a factored form of each vector.
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=
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=
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=
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If , the vector satisfies . In order that , it is necessary that and at least one of and be nonzero. Any vector satisfying those conditions will satisfy and will not equal C.
A similar analysis can be made for each of the other two cases.
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