1 00:00:01 --> 00:00:03 The following content is provided under a Creative 2 00:00:03 --> 00:00:05 Commons license. Your support will help MIT 3 00:00:05 --> 00:00:08 OpenCourseWare continue to offer high quality educational 4 00:00:08 --> 00:00:13 resources for free. To make a donation or to view 5 00:00:13 --> 00:00:18 additional materials from hundreds of MIT courses, 6 00:00:18 --> 00:00:23 visit MIT OpenCourseWare at OCW.mit.edu. 7 00:00:23 --> 00:00:30 Thank you. Let's continue with vectors and 8 00:00:30 --> 00:00:37 operations of them. Remember we saw the topic 9 00:00:37 --> 00:00:46 yesterday was dot product. And remember the definition of 10 00:00:46 --> 00:00:51 dot product, well, the dot product of two 11 00:00:51 --> 00:00:55 vectors is obtained by multiplying the first component 12 00:00:55 --> 00:00:59 with the first component, the second with the second and 13 00:00:59 --> 00:01:01 so on and summing these and you get the scalar. 14 00:01:01 --> 00:01:05 And the geometric interpretation of that is that 15 00:01:05 --> 00:01:09 you can also take the length of A, 16 00:01:09 --> 00:01:16 take the length of B multiply them and multiply that by the 17 00:01:16 --> 00:01:22 cosine of the angle between the two vectors. 18 00:01:22 --> 00:01:34 We have seen several applications of that. 19 00:01:34 --> 00:01:48 One application is to find lengths and angles. 20 00:01:48 --> 00:01:52 For example, you can use this relation to 21 00:01:52 --> 00:01:59 give you the cosine of the angle between two vectors is the dot 22 00:01:59 --> 00:02:05 product divided by the product of the lengths. 23 00:02:05 --> 00:02:14 Another application that we have is to detect whether two 24 00:02:14 --> 00:02:21 vectors are perpendicular. To decide if two vectors are 25 00:02:21 --> 00:02:28 perpendicular to each other, all we have to do is compute 26 00:02:28 --> 00:02:34 our dot product and see if we get zero. 27 00:02:34 --> 00:02:41 And one further application that we did not have time to 28 00:02:41 --> 00:02:49 discuss yesterday that I will mention very quickly is to find 29 00:02:49 --> 00:02:59 components of, let's say, a vector A along a 30 00:02:59 --> 00:03:04 direction u. So some unit vector. 31 00:03:04 --> 00:03:09 Let me explain. Let's say that I have some 32 00:03:09 --> 00:03:11 direction. For example, 33 00:03:11 --> 00:03:13 the horizontal axis on this blackboard. 34 00:03:13 --> 00:03:16 But it could be any direction in space. 35 00:03:16 --> 00:03:21 And, to describe this direction, maybe I have a unit 36 00:03:21 --> 00:03:26 vector along this axis. Let's say that I have any of a 37 00:03:26 --> 00:03:32 vector A and I want to find out what is the component of A along 38 00:03:32 --> 00:03:36 u. That means what is the length 39 00:03:36 --> 00:03:42 of this projection of A to the given direction? 40 00:03:42 --> 00:03:55 This thing here is the component of A along u. 41 00:03:55 --> 00:04:02 Well, how do we find that? Well, we know that here we have 42 00:04:02 --> 00:04:07 a right angle. So this component is just 43 00:04:07 --> 00:04:13 length A times cosine of the angle between A and u. 44 00:04:13 --> 00:04:18 But now that means I should be able to compute it very easily 45 00:04:18 --> 00:04:23 because that's the same as length A times length u times 46 00:04:23 --> 00:04:27 cosine theta because u is a unit vector. 47 00:04:27 --> 00:04:33 It is a unit vector. That means this is equal to one. 48 00:04:33 --> 00:04:41 And so that's the same as the dot product between A and u. 49 00:04:41 --> 00:04:43 That is very easy. And, of course, 50 00:04:43 --> 00:04:47 the most of just cases of that is say, for example, 51 00:04:47 --> 00:04:50 we want just to find the component along i hat, 52 00:04:50 --> 00:04:53 the unit vector along the x axis. 53 00:04:53 --> 00:04:57 Then you do the dot product with i hat, which is 100. 54 00:04:57 --> 00:04:59 What you get is the first component. 55 00:04:59 --> 00:05:01 And that is, indeed, the x component of a 56 00:05:01 --> 00:05:04 vector. Similarly, say you want the z 57 00:05:04 --> 00:05:08 component you do the dot product with k that gives you the last 58 00:05:08 --> 00:05:14 component of your vector. But the same works with a unit 59 00:05:14 --> 00:05:21 vector in any direction. So what is an application of 60 00:05:21 --> 00:05:24 that? Well, for example, 61 00:05:24 --> 00:05:30 in physics maybe you have seen situations where you have a 62 00:05:30 --> 00:05:35 pendulum that swings. You have maybe some mass at the 63 00:05:35 --> 00:05:41 end of the string and that mass swings back and forth on a 64 00:05:41 --> 00:05:42 circle. And to analyze this 65 00:05:42 --> 00:05:45 mechanically you want to use, of course, 66 00:05:45 --> 00:05:50 Newton's Laws of Mechanics and you want to use forces and so 67 00:05:50 --> 00:05:54 on, but I claim that components of 68 00:05:54 --> 00:05:59 vectors are useful here to understand what happens 69 00:05:59 --> 00:06:03 geometrically. What are the forces exerted on 70 00:06:03 --> 00:06:10 this pendulum? Well, there is its weight, 71 00:06:10 --> 00:06:21 which usually points downwards, and there is the tension of the 72 00:06:21 --> 00:06:25 string. And these two forces together 73 00:06:25 --> 00:06:30 are what explains how this pendulum is going to move back 74 00:06:30 --> 00:06:33 and forth. Now, you could try to 75 00:06:33 --> 00:06:36 understand the equations of motion using x, 76 00:06:36 --> 00:06:39 y coordinates or x, z or whatever you want to call 77 00:06:39 --> 00:06:41 them, let's say x, y. 78 00:06:41 --> 00:06:47 But really what causes the pendulum to swing back and forth 79 00:06:47 --> 00:06:52 and also to somehow stay a constant distance are phenomenal 80 00:06:52 --> 00:06:56 relative to this circular trajectory. 81 00:06:56 --> 00:06:59 For example, maybe instead of taking 82 00:06:59 --> 00:07:03 components along the x and y axis, we want to look at two 83 00:07:03 --> 00:07:09 other unit vectors. We can look at a vector, 84 00:07:09 --> 00:07:15 let's call it T, that is tangent to the 85 00:07:15 --> 00:07:18 trajectory. Sorry. Can you read that? 86 00:07:18 --> 00:07:33 It's not very readable. T is tangent to the trajectory. 87 00:07:33 --> 00:07:36 And, on the other hand, we can introduce another 88 00:07:36 --> 00:07:42 vector. Let's call that N. 89 00:07:42 --> 00:07:50 And that one is normal, perpendicular to the 90 00:07:50 --> 00:07:55 trajectory. And so now if you think about 91 00:07:55 --> 00:08:00 it you can look at the components of the weight along 92 00:08:00 --> 00:08:06 the tangent direction and along the normal direction. 93 00:08:06 --> 00:08:13 And so the component of F along the tangent direction is what 94 00:08:13 --> 00:08:21 causes acceleration in the direction along the trajectory. 95 00:08:21 --> 00:08:23 It is what causes the pendulum to swing back and forth. 96 00:08:23 --> 00:08:38 97 00:08:38 --> 00:08:45 And the component along N, on the other hand. 98 00:08:45 --> 00:08:51 That is the part of the weight that tends to pull our mass away 99 00:08:51 --> 00:08:54 from this point. It is what is going to be 100 00:08:54 --> 00:08:56 responsible for the tension of the string. 101 00:08:56 --> 00:09:02 It is why the string is taut and not actually slack and with 102 00:09:02 --> 00:09:06 things moving all over the place. 103 00:09:06 --> 00:09:18 That one is responsible for the tension of a string. 104 00:09:18 --> 00:09:20 And now, of course, if you want to compute things, 105 00:09:20 --> 00:09:23 well, maybe you will call this angle theta and then you will 106 00:09:23 --> 00:09:27 express things explicitly using sines and cosines and you will 107 00:09:27 --> 00:09:29 solve for the equations of motion. 108 00:09:29 --> 00:09:32 That would be a very interesting physics problem. 109 00:09:32 --> 00:09:35 But, to save time, we are not going to do it. 110 00:09:35 --> 00:09:40 I'm sure you've seen that in 8.01 or similar classes. 111 00:09:40 --> 00:09:48 And so to find these components we will just do dot products. 112 00:09:48 --> 00:09:56 Any questions? No. 113 00:09:56 --> 00:10:01 OK. Let's move onto our next topic. 114 00:10:01 --> 00:10:06 Here we have found things about lengths, angles and stuff like 115 00:10:06 --> 00:10:10 that. One important concept that we 116 00:10:10 --> 00:10:17 have not understood yet in terms of vectors is area. 117 00:10:17 --> 00:10:25 Let's say that we want to find the area of this pentagon. 118 00:10:25 --> 00:10:28 Well, how do we compute that using vectors? 119 00:10:28 --> 00:10:32 Can we do it using vectors? Yes we can. 120 00:10:32 --> 00:10:36 And that is going to be the goal. 121 00:10:36 --> 00:10:42 The first thing we should do is probably simplify the problem. 122 00:10:42 --> 00:10:44 We don't actually need to bother with pentagons. 123 00:10:44 --> 00:10:48 All we need to know are triangles because, 124 00:10:48 --> 00:10:51 for example, you can cut that in three 125 00:10:51 --> 00:10:56 triangles and then sum the areas of the triangles. 126 00:10:56 --> 00:11:05 Perhaps easier, what is the area of a triangle? 127 00:11:05 --> 00:11:12 Let's start with a triangle in the plane. 128 00:11:12 --> 00:11:16 Well, then we need two vectors to describe it, 129 00:11:16 --> 00:11:20 say A and B here. How do we find the area of a 130 00:11:20 --> 00:11:23 triangle? Well, we all know base times 131 00:11:23 --> 00:11:25 height over two. What is the base? 132 00:11:25 --> 00:11:30 What is the height? The area of this triangle is 133 00:11:30 --> 00:11:35 going to be one-half of the base, which is going to be the 134 00:11:35 --> 00:11:39 length of A. And the height, 135 00:11:39 --> 00:11:47 well, if you call theta this angle, then this is length B 136 00:11:47 --> 00:11:51 sine theta. Now, that looks a lot like the 137 00:11:51 --> 00:11:54 formula we had there, except for one little catch. 138 00:11:54 --> 00:11:58 This is a sine instead of a cosine. 139 00:11:58 --> 00:12:03 How do we deal with that? Well, what we could do is first 140 00:12:03 --> 00:12:10 find the cosine of the angle. We know how to find the cosine 141 00:12:10 --> 00:12:17 of the angle using dot products. Then solve for sine using sine 142 00:12:17 --> 00:12:22 square plus cosine square equals one. 143 00:12:22 --> 00:12:25 And then plug that back into here. 144 00:12:25 --> 00:12:28 Well, that works but it is kind of a very complicated way of 145 00:12:28 --> 00:12:30 doing it. So there is an easier way. 146 00:12:30 --> 00:12:34 And that is going to be determinants, 147 00:12:34 --> 00:12:40 but let me explain how we get to that maybe still doing 148 00:12:40 --> 00:12:45 elementary geometry and dot products first. 149 00:12:45 --> 00:12:53 Let's see. What we can do is instead of 150 00:12:53 --> 00:12:55 finding the sine of theta, well, 151 00:12:55 --> 00:12:59 we're not good at finding sines of angles but we are very good 152 00:12:59 --> 00:13:00 now at finding cosines of angles. 153 00:13:00 --> 00:13:05 Maybe we can find another angle whose cosine is the same as the 154 00:13:05 --> 00:13:09 sine of theta. Well, you have already heard 155 00:13:09 --> 00:13:14 about complimentary angles and how I take my vector A, 156 00:13:14 --> 00:13:18 my vector B here and I have an angle theta. 157 00:13:18 --> 00:13:24 Well, let's say that I rotate my vector A by 90 degrees to get 158 00:13:24 --> 00:13:34 a new vector A prime. A prime is just A rotated by 90 159 00:13:34 --> 00:13:39 degrees. Then the angle between these 160 00:13:39 --> 00:13:45 two guys, let's say theta prime, well, theta prime is 90 degrees 161 00:13:45 --> 00:13:49 or pi over two gradients minus theta. 162 00:13:49 --> 00:13:56 So, in particular, cosine of theta prime is equal 163 00:13:56 --> 00:14:01 to sine of theta. In particular, 164 00:14:01 --> 00:14:09 that means that length A, length B, sine theta, 165 00:14:09 --> 00:14:13 which is what we would need to know in order to find the area 166 00:14:13 --> 00:14:17 of this triangle is equal to, well, A and A prime have the 167 00:14:17 --> 00:14:21 same length so let me replace that by length of A prime. 168 00:14:21 --> 00:14:28 I am not changing anything, length B, cosine theta prime. 169 00:14:28 --> 00:14:31 And now we have something that is much easier for us. 170 00:14:31 --> 00:14:37 Because that is just A prime dot B. 171 00:14:37 --> 00:14:40 That looks like a very good plan. 172 00:14:40 --> 00:14:43 There is only one small thing which is we don't know yet how 173 00:14:43 --> 00:14:48 to find this A prime. Well, I think it is not very 174 00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 hard. Let's see. 175 00:14:52 --> 00:14:58 Actually, why don't you guys do the hard work? 176 00:14:58 --> 00:15:02 Let's say that I have a plane vector A with two components a1, 177 00:15:02 --> 00:15:05 a2. And I want to rotate it 178 00:15:05 --> 00:15:10 counterclockwise by 90 degrees. It looks like maybe we should 179 00:15:10 --> 00:15:14 change some signs somewhere. Maybe we should do something 180 00:15:14 --> 00:15:24 with the components. Can you come up with an idea of 181 00:15:24 --> 00:15:34 what it might be? I see a lot of people answering 182 00:15:34 --> 00:15:37 three. I see some other answers, 183 00:15:37 --> 00:15:41 but the majority vote seems to be number three. 184 00:15:41 --> 00:15:49 Minus a2 and a1. I think I agree, so let's see. 185 00:15:49 --> 00:16:01 Let's say that we have this vector A with components a1. 186 00:16:01 --> 00:16:05 So a1 is here. And a2. So a2 is here. 187 00:16:05 --> 00:16:14 Let's rotate this box by 90 degrees counterclockwise. 188 00:16:14 --> 00:16:19 This box ends up there. It's the same box just flipped 189 00:16:19 --> 00:16:23 on its side. This thing here becomes a1 and 190 00:16:23 --> 00:16:31 this thing here becomes a2. And that means our new vector A 191 00:16:31 --> 00:16:37 prime is going to be -- Well, the first component looks like 192 00:16:37 --> 00:16:40 an a2 but it is pointing to the left when a2 is positive. 193 00:16:40 --> 00:16:47 So, actually, it is minus a2. And the y component is going to 194 00:16:47 --> 00:16:53 be the same as this guy, so it's going to be a1. 195 00:16:53 --> 00:16:56 If you wanted instead to rotate clockwise then you would do the 196 00:16:56 --> 00:17:00 opposite. You would do a2 minus a1. 197 00:17:00 --> 00:17:07 Is that reasonably clear for everyone? 198 00:17:07 --> 00:17:14 OK. Let's continue the calculation 199 00:17:14 --> 00:17:18 there. A prime, we have decided, 200 00:17:18 --> 00:17:24 is minus a2, a1 dot product with let's call 201 00:17:24 --> 00:17:33 b1 and b2, the components of B. Then that will be minus a2, 202 00:17:33 --> 00:17:36 b1 plus a1, b2 plus a1, b2. 203 00:17:36 --> 00:17:43 Let me write that the other way around, a1, b2 minus a2, 204 00:17:43 --> 00:17:46 b1. And that is a quantity that you 205 00:17:46 --> 00:17:53 may already know under the name of determinant of vectors A and 206 00:17:53 --> 00:17:59 B, which we write symbolically using this notation. 207 00:17:59 --> 00:18:03 We put A and B next to each other inside a two-by-two table 208 00:18:03 --> 00:18:09 and we put these verticals bars. And that means the determinant 209 00:18:09 --> 00:18:14 of these numbers, this guy times this guy minus 210 00:18:14 --> 00:18:30 this guy times this guy. That is called the determinant. 211 00:18:30 --> 00:18:34 And geometrically what it measures is the area, 212 00:18:34 --> 00:18:38 well, not of a triangle because we did not divide by two, 213 00:18:38 --> 00:18:42 but of a parallelogram formed by A and B. 214 00:18:42 --> 00:18:51 It measures the area of the parallelogram with sides A and 215 00:18:51 --> 00:18:53 B. And, of course, 216 00:18:53 --> 00:18:56 if you want the triangle then you will just divide by two. 217 00:18:56 --> 00:19:00 The triangle is half the parallelogram. 218 00:19:00 --> 00:19:04 There is one small catch. The area usually is something 219 00:19:04 --> 00:19:08 that is going to be positive. This guy here has no reason to 220 00:19:08 --> 00:19:16 be positive or negative because, in fact, well, 221 00:19:16 --> 00:19:20 if you compute things you will see that where it is supposed to 222 00:19:20 --> 00:19:24 go negative it depends on whether A and B are clockwise or 223 00:19:24 --> 00:19:26 counterclockwise from each other. 224 00:19:26 --> 00:19:29 I mean the issue that we have -- Well, 225 00:19:29 --> 00:19:31 when we say the area is one-half length A, 226 00:19:31 --> 00:19:34 length B, sine theta that was assuming 227 00:19:34 --> 00:19:37 that theta is positive, that its sine is positive. 228 00:19:37 --> 00:19:42 Otherwise, if theta is negative maybe we need to take the 229 00:19:42 --> 00:19:47 absolute value of this. Just to be more truthful, 230 00:19:47 --> 00:19:56 I will say the determinant is either plus or minus the area. 231 00:19:56 --> 00:20:13 Any questions about this? Yes. 232 00:20:13 --> 00:20:15 Sorry. That is not a dot product. 233 00:20:15 --> 00:20:18 That is the usual multiplication. 234 00:20:18 --> 00:20:25 That is length A times length B times sine theta. 235 00:20:25 --> 00:20:28 What does that equal? And so that is equal to the 236 00:20:28 --> 00:20:31 area of a parallelogram. Sorry. 237 00:20:31 --> 00:20:39 Let me explain that again. If I have two vectors A and B, 238 00:20:39 --> 00:20:45 I can form a parallelogram with them or I can form a triangle. 239 00:20:45 --> 00:20:53 And so the area of a parallelogram is equal to length 240 00:20:53 --> 00:21:00 A, length B, sine theta, is equal to the determinant of 241 00:21:00 --> 00:21:07 A and B. While the area of a triangle is 242 00:21:07 --> 00:21:09 one-half of that. 243 00:21:09 --> 00:21:21 244 00:21:21 --> 00:21:25 And, again, to be truthful, I should say these things can 245 00:21:25 --> 00:21:28 be positive or negative. Depending on whether you count 246 00:21:28 --> 00:21:31 the angle positively or negatively, you will get either 247 00:21:31 --> 00:21:36 the area or minus the area. The area is actually the 248 00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 absolute value of these quantities. 249 00:21:39 --> 00:21:49 Is that clear? OK. 250 00:21:49 --> 00:21:57 Yes. If you want to compute the 251 00:21:57 --> 00:21:59 area, you will just take the absolute value of the 252 00:21:59 --> 00:22:00 determinant. 253 00:22:00 --> 00:22:15 254 00:22:15 --> 00:22:19 I should say the area of a parallelogram so that it is 255 00:22:19 --> 00:22:32 completely clear. Sorry. Do you have a question? 256 00:22:32 --> 00:22:34 Explain again, sorry, was the question how a 257 00:22:34 --> 00:22:38 determinant equals the area of a parallelogram? 258 00:22:38 --> 00:22:41 OK. The area of a parallelogram is 259 00:22:41 --> 00:22:45 going to be the base times the height. 260 00:22:45 --> 00:22:48 Let's take this guy to be the base. 261 00:22:48 --> 00:22:53 The length of a base will be length of A and the height will 262 00:22:53 --> 00:22:58 be obtained by taking B but only looking at the vertical part. 263 00:22:58 --> 00:23:02 That will be length of B times the sine of theta. 264 00:23:02 --> 00:23:06 That is how I got the area of a parallelogram as length A, 265 00:23:06 --> 00:23:09 length B, sine theta. And then I did this 266 00:23:09 --> 00:23:15 manipulation and this trick of rotating to find a nice formula. 267 00:23:15 --> 00:23:23 Yes. You are asking ahead of what I 268 00:23:23 --> 00:23:28 am going to do in a few minutes. You are asking about magnitude 269 00:23:28 --> 00:23:29 of A cross B. We are going to learn about 270 00:23:29 --> 00:23:32 cross products in a few minutes. And the answer is yes, 271 00:23:32 --> 00:23:34 but cross product is for vectors in space. 272 00:23:34 --> 00:23:38 Here I was simplifying things by doing things just in the 273 00:23:38 --> 00:23:43 plane. Just bear with me for five more 274 00:23:43 --> 00:23:48 minutes and we will do things in space. 275 00:23:48 --> 00:23:55 Yes. That is correct. The way you compute this in 276 00:23:55 --> 00:24:00 practice is you just do this. That is how you compute the 277 00:24:00 --> 00:24:04 determinant. Yes. 278 00:24:04 --> 00:24:09 What about three dimensions? Three dimensions we are going 279 00:24:09 --> 00:24:11 to do now. More questions? 280 00:24:11 --> 00:24:26 Should we move on? OK. Let's move to space. 281 00:24:26 --> 00:24:32 There are two things we can do in space. 282 00:24:32 --> 00:24:36 And you can look for the volume of solids or you can look for 283 00:24:36 --> 00:24:39 the area of surfaces. Let me start with the easier of 284 00:24:39 --> 00:24:42 the two. Let me start with volumes of 285 00:24:42 --> 00:24:49 solids. And we will go back to area, 286 00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 I promise. I claim that there is also a 287 00:24:53 --> 00:24:59 notion of determinants in space. And that is going to tell us 288 00:24:59 --> 00:25:08 how to find volumes. Let's say that we have three 289 00:25:08 --> 00:25:16 vectors A, B and C. And then the definition of 290 00:25:16 --> 00:25:23 their determinants going to be, the notation for that in terms 291 00:25:23 --> 00:25:28 of the components is the same as over there. 292 00:25:28 --> 00:25:35 We put the components of A, the components of B and the 293 00:25:35 --> 00:25:40 components of C inside verticals bars. 294 00:25:40 --> 00:25:42 And, of course, I have to give meaning to this. 295 00:25:42 --> 00:25:45 This will be a number. And what is that number? 296 00:25:45 --> 00:25:50 Well, the definition I will take is that this is a1 times 297 00:25:50 --> 00:25:55 the determinant of what I get by looking in this lower right 298 00:25:55 --> 00:26:01 corner. The two-by-two determinant b2, 299 00:26:01 --> 00:26:08 b3, c2, c3. Then I will subtract a2 times 300 00:26:08 --> 00:26:15 the determinant of b1, b3, c1, c3. 301 00:26:15 --> 00:26:22 And then I will add a3 times the determinant b1, 302 00:26:22 --> 00:26:26 b2, c1, c2. And each of these guys means, 303 00:26:26 --> 00:26:30 again, you take b2 times c3 minus c2 times b3 and this times 304 00:26:30 --> 00:26:33 that minus this time that and so on. 305 00:26:33 --> 00:26:35 In fact, there is a total of six terms in here. 306 00:26:35 --> 00:26:39 And maybe some of you have already seen a different formula 307 00:26:39 --> 00:26:42 for three-by-three determinants where you directly have the six 308 00:26:42 --> 00:26:47 terms. It is the same definition. 309 00:26:47 --> 00:26:50 How to remember the structure of this formula? 310 00:26:50 --> 00:26:55 Well, this is called an expansion according to the first 311 00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 row. So we are going to take the 312 00:26:57 --> 00:27:02 entries in the first row, a1, a2, a3 And for each of them 313 00:27:02 --> 00:27:05 we get the term. Namely we multiply it by a 314 00:27:05 --> 00:27:10 two-by-two determinant that we get by deleting the first row 315 00:27:10 --> 00:27:16 and the column where we are. Here the coefficient next to 316 00:27:16 --> 00:27:21 a1, when we delete this column and this row, 317 00:27:21 --> 00:27:24 we are left with b2, b3, c2, c3. 318 00:27:24 --> 00:27:29 The next one we take a2, we delete the row that is in it 319 00:27:29 --> 00:27:35 and the column that it is in. And we are left with b1, 320 00:27:35 --> 00:27:38 b3, c1, c3. And, similarly, 321 00:27:38 --> 00:27:41 with a3, we take what remains, which is b1, 322 00:27:41 --> 00:27:45 b2, c1, c2. Finally, last but not least, 323 00:27:45 --> 00:27:51 there is a minus sign here for the second guy. 324 00:27:51 --> 00:28:01 It looks like a weird formula. I mean it is a little bit weird. 325 00:28:01 --> 00:28:04 But it is a formula that you should learn because it is 326 00:28:04 --> 00:28:06 really, really useful for a lot of things. 327 00:28:06 --> 00:28:10 I should say if this looks very artificial to you and you would 328 00:28:10 --> 00:28:14 like to know more there is more in the notes, 329 00:28:14 --> 00:28:17 so read the notes. They will tell you a bit more 330 00:28:17 --> 00:28:20 about what this means, where it comes from and so on. 331 00:28:20 --> 00:28:23 If you want to know a lot more then some day you should take 332 00:28:23 --> 00:28:26 18.06, Linear Algebra where you will 333 00:28:26 --> 00:28:29 learn a lot more about determinants in N dimensional 334 00:28:29 --> 00:28:32 space with N vectors. And there is a generalization 335 00:28:32 --> 00:28:36 of this in arbitrary dimensions. In this class, 336 00:28:36 --> 00:28:39 we will only deal with two or three dimensions. 337 00:28:39 --> 00:28:44 Yes. Why is the negative there? 338 00:28:44 --> 00:28:45 Well, that is a very good question. 339 00:28:45 --> 00:28:49 It has to be there so that this will actually equal, 340 00:28:49 --> 00:28:53 well, what I am going to say right now is that this will give 341 00:28:53 --> 00:28:55 us the volume of [a box?] with sides A, 342 00:28:55 --> 00:28:57 B, C. And the formula just doesn't 343 00:28:57 --> 00:28:59 work if you don't put the negative. 344 00:28:59 --> 00:29:02 There is a more fundamental reason which has to do with 345 00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 orientation of space and the fact that if you switch two 346 00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 coordinates in space then basically you change what is 347 00:29:09 --> 00:29:12 called the handedness of the coordinates. 348 00:29:12 --> 00:29:14 If you look at your right hand and your left hand, 349 00:29:14 --> 00:29:16 they are not actually the same. They are mirror images. 350 00:29:16 --> 00:29:18 And, if you squared two coordinate axes, 351 00:29:18 --> 00:29:21 that is what you get. That is the fundamental reason 352 00:29:21 --> 00:29:24 for the minus. Again, we don't need to think 353 00:29:24 --> 00:29:33 too much about that. All we need in this class is 354 00:29:33 --> 00:29:38 the formula. Why do we care about this 355 00:29:38 --> 00:29:43 formula? It is because of the theorem 356 00:29:43 --> 00:29:52 that says that geometrically the determinant of the three vectors 357 00:29:52 --> 00:29:58 A, B, C is, again, plus or minus. 358 00:29:58 --> 00:30:00 This determinant could be positive or negative. 359 00:30:00 --> 00:30:03 See those minuses and all sorts of stuff. 360 00:30:03 --> 00:30:14 Plus or minus the volume of the parallelepiped. 361 00:30:14 --> 00:30:20 That is just a fancy name for a box with parallelogram sides, 362 00:30:20 --> 00:30:24 in case you wonder, with sides A, 363 00:30:24 --> 00:30:29 B and C. You take the three vectors A, 364 00:30:29 --> 00:30:35 B and C and you form a box whose sides are all 365 00:30:35 --> 00:30:44 parallelograms. And when its volume is going to 366 00:30:44 --> 00:30:59 be the determinant. Other questions? 367 00:30:59 --> 00:31:11 I'm sorry. I cannot quite hear you. 368 00:31:11 --> 00:31:12 Yes. We are going to see how to do 369 00:31:12 --> 00:31:14 it geometrically without a determinant, 370 00:31:14 --> 00:31:17 but then you will see that you actually need a determinant to 371 00:31:17 --> 00:31:21 compute it no matter what. We are going to go back to this 372 00:31:21 --> 00:31:24 and see another formula for volume, but you will see that 373 00:31:24 --> 00:31:26 really I am cheating. I mean somehow computationally 374 00:31:26 --> 00:31:30 the only way to compute it is really to use a determinant. 375 00:31:30 --> 00:31:43 376 00:31:43 --> 00:31:44 That is correct. In general, I mean, 377 00:31:44 --> 00:31:47 actually, I could say if you look at the two-by-two 378 00:31:47 --> 00:31:50 determinant, see, you can also explain it in 379 00:31:50 --> 00:31:54 terms of this extension. If you take a1 and multiply by 380 00:31:54 --> 00:31:57 this one-by-one determinant b2, then you take a2 and you 381 00:31:57 --> 00:32:00 multiply it by this one-by-one determinant b1 but you put a 382 00:32:00 --> 00:32:02 minus sign. And in general, 383 00:32:02 --> 00:32:06 indeed, when you expand, you would stop putting plus, 384 00:32:06 --> 00:32:08 minus, plus, minus alternating. 385 00:32:08 --> 00:32:15 More about that in 18.06. Yes. 386 00:32:15 --> 00:32:18 There is a way to do it based on other rows as well, 387 00:32:18 --> 00:32:20 but then you have to be very careful with the sign vectors. 388 00:32:20 --> 00:32:23 I will refer you to the notes for that. 389 00:32:23 --> 00:32:25 I mean you could also do it with a column, 390 00:32:25 --> 00:32:28 by the way. I mean be careful about the 391 00:32:28 --> 00:32:30 sign rules. Given how little we will use 392 00:32:30 --> 00:32:33 determinants in this class, I mean we will use them in a 393 00:32:33 --> 00:32:36 way that is fundamental, but we won't compute much. 394 00:32:36 --> 00:32:47 Let's say this is going to be enough for us for now. 395 00:32:47 --> 00:32:50 After determinants now I can tell you about cross product. 396 00:32:50 --> 00:32:53 And cross product is going to be the answer to your question 397 00:32:53 --> 00:32:54 about area. 398 00:32:54 --> 00:33:32 399 00:33:32 --> 00:33:45 OK. Let me move onto cross product. 400 00:33:45 --> 00:33:53 Cross product is something that you can apply to two vectors in 401 00:33:53 --> 00:33:56 space. And by that I mean really in 402 00:33:56 --> 00:33:59 three-dimensional space. This is something that is 403 00:33:59 --> 00:34:05 specific to three dimensions. The definition A cross B -- It 404 00:34:05 --> 00:34:11 is important to really do your multiplication symbol well so 405 00:34:11 --> 00:34:16 that you don't mistake it with a dot product. 406 00:34:16 --> 00:34:23 Well, that is going to be a vector. 407 00:34:23 --> 00:34:26 That is another reason not to confuse it with dot product. 408 00:34:26 --> 00:34:30 Dot product gives you a number. Cross product gives you a 409 00:34:30 --> 00:34:32 vector. They are really completely 410 00:34:32 --> 00:34:35 different operations. They are both called product 411 00:34:35 --> 00:34:38 because someone could not come up with a better name, 412 00:34:38 --> 00:34:42 but they are completely different operations. 413 00:34:42 --> 00:34:45 What do we do to do the cross product of A and B? 414 00:34:45 --> 00:34:47 Well, we do something very strange. 415 00:34:47 --> 00:34:50 Just as I have told you that a determinant is something where 416 00:34:50 --> 00:34:54 we put numbers and we get a number, I am going to violate my 417 00:34:54 --> 00:34:59 own rule. I am going to put together a 418 00:34:59 --> 00:35:06 determinant in which -- Well, the last two rows are the 419 00:35:06 --> 00:35:11 components of the vectors A and B but the first row strangely 420 00:35:11 --> 00:35:15 consists for unit vectors i, j, k. 421 00:35:15 --> 00:35:19 What does that mean? Well, that is not a determinant 422 00:35:19 --> 00:35:21 in the usual sense. If you try to put that into 423 00:35:21 --> 00:35:24 your calculator, it will tell you there is an 424 00:35:24 --> 00:35:26 error. I don't know how to put vectors 425 00:35:26 --> 00:35:28 in there. I want numbers. 426 00:35:28 --> 00:35:32 What is means is it is symbolic notation that helps you remember 427 00:35:32 --> 00:35:35 what the formula is. The actual formula is, 428 00:35:35 --> 00:35:40 well, you use this definition. And, if you use that 429 00:35:40 --> 00:35:47 definition, you see that it is i hat times some number. 430 00:35:47 --> 00:35:55 Let me write it as determinant of a2, a3, b2, 431 00:35:55 --> 00:36:02 b3 times i hat minus determinant a1, 432 00:36:02 --> 00:36:11 a3, b1, b3, j hat plus a1, a2, b1, b2, k hat. 433 00:36:11 --> 00:36:15 And so that is the actual definition in a way that makes 434 00:36:15 --> 00:36:18 complete sense, but to remember this formula 435 00:36:18 --> 00:36:23 without too much trouble it is much easier to think about it in 436 00:36:23 --> 00:36:27 these terms here. That is the definition and it 437 00:36:27 --> 00:36:30 gives you a vector. Now, as usual with definitions, 438 00:36:30 --> 00:36:32 the question is what is it good for? 439 00:36:32 --> 00:36:36 What is the geometric meaning of this very strange operation? 440 00:36:36 --> 00:36:48 Why do we bother to do that? Here is what it does 441 00:36:48 --> 00:36:52 geometrically. Remember a vector has two 442 00:36:52 --> 00:36:56 different things. It has a length and it has a 443 00:36:56 --> 00:37:01 direction. Let's start with the length. 444 00:37:01 --> 00:37:15 A length of a cross product is the area of the parallelogram in 445 00:37:15 --> 00:37:24 space formed by the vectors A and B. 446 00:37:24 --> 00:37:27 Now, if you have a parallelogram in space, 447 00:37:27 --> 00:37:31 you can find its area just by doing this calculation when you 448 00:37:31 --> 00:37:33 know the coordinates of the points. 449 00:37:33 --> 00:37:35 You do this calculation and then you take the length. 450 00:37:35 --> 00:37:40 You take this squared plus that squared plus that squared, 451 00:37:40 --> 00:37:43 square root. It looks like a very 452 00:37:43 --> 00:37:47 complicated formula but it works and, actually, 453 00:37:47 --> 00:37:49 it is the simplest way to do it. 454 00:37:49 --> 00:37:52 This time we don't actually need to put plus or minus 455 00:37:52 --> 00:37:55 because the length of a vector is always positive. 456 00:37:55 --> 00:38:00 We don't have to worry about that. 457 00:38:00 --> 00:38:04 And what is even more magical is that not only is the length 458 00:38:04 --> 00:38:07 remarkable but the direction is also remarkable. 459 00:38:07 --> 00:38:24 The direction of A cross B is perpendicular to the plane of a 460 00:38:24 --> 00:38:33 parallelogram. Our two vectors A and B 461 00:38:33 --> 00:38:41 together in a plane. What I am telling you is that 462 00:38:41 --> 00:38:51 for vector A cross B will point, will stick straight out of that 463 00:38:51 --> 00:38:56 plane perpendicularly to it. In fact, I would have to be 464 00:38:56 --> 00:38:58 more precise. There are two ways that you can 465 00:38:58 --> 00:39:02 be perpendicular to this plane. You can be perpendicular 466 00:39:02 --> 00:39:06 pointing up or pointing down. How do I decide which? 467 00:39:06 --> 00:39:16 Well, there is something called the right-hand rule. 468 00:39:16 --> 00:39:18 What does the right-hand rule say? 469 00:39:18 --> 00:39:21 Well, there are various versions for right-hand rule 470 00:39:21 --> 00:39:23 depending on which country you learn about it. 471 00:39:23 --> 00:39:26 In France, given the culture, you even learn about it in 472 00:39:26 --> 00:39:28 terms of a cork screw and a wine bottle. 473 00:39:28 --> 00:39:33 I will just use the usual version here. 474 00:39:33 --> 00:39:35 You take your right hand. If you are left-handed, 475 00:39:35 --> 00:39:38 remember to take your right hand and not the left one. 476 00:39:38 --> 00:39:43 The other right, OK? Then place your hand to point 477 00:39:43 --> 00:39:46 in the direction of A. Let's say my right hand is 478 00:39:46 --> 00:39:50 going in that direction. Now, curl your fingers so that 479 00:39:50 --> 00:39:54 they point towards B. Here that would be kind of into 480 00:39:54 --> 00:39:56 the blackboard. Don't snap any bones. 481 00:39:56 --> 00:40:00 If it doesn't quite work then rotate your arms so that you can 482 00:40:00 --> 00:40:04 actually physically do it. Then get your thumb to stick 483 00:40:04 --> 00:40:07 straight out. Well, here my thumb is going to 484 00:40:07 --> 00:40:11 go up. And that tells me that A cross 485 00:40:11 --> 00:40:16 B will go up. Let me write that down while 486 00:40:16 --> 00:40:19 you experiment with it. Again, try not to enjoy 487 00:40:19 --> 00:40:20 yourselves. 488 00:40:20 --> 00:40:30 489 00:40:30 --> 00:40:39 First, your right hand points parallel to vector A. 490 00:40:39 --> 00:40:47 Then your fingers point in the direction of B. 491 00:40:47 --> 00:40:53 Then your thumb, when you stick it out, 492 00:40:53 --> 00:41:00 is going to point in the direction of A cross B. 493 00:41:00 --> 00:41:29 Let's do a quick example. Where is my quick example? Here. 494 00:41:29 --> 00:41:32 Let's take i cross j. 495 00:41:32 --> 00:41:40 496 00:41:40 --> 00:41:47 I see most of you going in the right direction. 497 00:41:47 --> 00:41:51 If you have it pointing in the wrong direction, 498 00:41:51 --> 00:41:56 it might mean that you are using your left hand, 499 00:41:56 --> 00:42:01 for example. Example, I claim that i cross j 500 00:42:01 --> 00:42:07 equals k. Let's see. I points towards us. 501 00:42:07 --> 00:42:12 J point to our right. I guess this is your right. 502 00:42:12 --> 00:42:16 I think. And then your thumb is going to 503 00:42:16 --> 00:42:19 point up. That tells us it is roughly 504 00:42:19 --> 00:42:21 pointing up. And, of course, 505 00:42:21 --> 00:42:24 the length should be one because if you take the unit 506 00:42:24 --> 00:42:27 square in the x, y plane, its area is one. 507 00:42:27 --> 00:42:29 And the direction should be vertical. 508 00:42:29 --> 00:42:34 Because it should be perpendicular to the x, 509 00:42:34 --> 00:42:37 y plane. It looks like i cross j will be 510 00:42:37 --> 00:42:41 k. Well, let's check with the 511 00:42:41 --> 00:42:43 definition i, j, k. 512 00:42:43 --> 00:42:51 What is i? I is one, zero, zero. J is zero, one, zero. 513 00:42:51 --> 00:42:58 The coefficient of i will be zero times zero minus zero times 514 00:42:58 --> 00:43:00 one. That is zero. 515 00:43:00 --> 00:43:04 The coefficient of j will be one time zero minus zero times 516 00:43:04 --> 00:43:06 zero, that is a zero, minus zero j. 517 00:43:06 --> 00:43:11 It doesn't matter. And the coefficient of k will 518 00:43:11 --> 00:43:14 be one times one, that is one, 519 00:43:14 --> 00:43:17 minus zero times zero, so one k. 520 00:43:17 --> 00:43:22 So we do get i cross j equals k both ways. 521 00:43:22 --> 00:43:24 In this case, it is easier to do it 522 00:43:24 --> 00:43:27 geometrically. If I give you no complicated 523 00:43:27 --> 00:43:32 vectors, probably you will actually want to do the 524 00:43:32 --> 00:43:41 calculation. Any questions? Yes. 525 00:43:41 --> 00:43:45 The coefficient of k, remember I delete the first row 526 00:43:45 --> 00:43:50 and the last column so I get this two-by-two determinant. 527 00:43:50 --> 00:43:54 And that two-by-two determinant is one times one minus zero 528 00:43:54 --> 00:43:56 times zero so that gives me a one. 529 00:43:56 --> 00:43:59 That is what you do with two-by-two determinants. 530 00:43:59 --> 00:44:03 Similarly for [UNINTELLIGIBLE], but [UNINTELLIGIBLE] 531 00:44:03 --> 00:44:11 turn out to be zero. More questions? 532 00:44:11 --> 00:44:14 Yes. Let me repeat how I got the one 533 00:44:14 --> 00:44:18 in front of k. Remember the definition of a 534 00:44:18 --> 00:44:24 determinant I expand according to the entries in the first row. 535 00:44:24 --> 00:44:28 When I get to k what I do is delete the first row and I 536 00:44:28 --> 00:44:32 delete the last column, the column that contains k. 537 00:44:32 --> 00:44:37 I delete these guys and these guys and I am left with this 538 00:44:37 --> 00:44:41 two-by-two determinant. Now, a two-by-two determinant, 539 00:44:41 --> 00:44:47 you multiply according to this downward diagonal and then minus 540 00:44:47 --> 00:44:50 this times that. One times one, 541 00:44:50 --> 00:44:55 let me see here, I got one k because that is one 542 00:44:55 --> 00:45:00 times one minus zero times zero equals one. 543 00:45:00 --> 00:45:03 Sorry. That is really hard to read. 544 00:45:03 --> 00:45:11 Maybe it will be easier that way. 545 00:45:11 --> 00:45:19 Yes. Let's try. 546 00:45:19 --> 00:45:23 If I do the same for i, I think I will also get zero. 547 00:45:23 --> 00:45:28 Let's do the same for i. I take i, I delete the first 548 00:45:28 --> 00:45:33 row, I delete the first column, I get this two-by-two 549 00:45:33 --> 00:45:36 determinant here and I get zero times zero, 550 00:45:36 --> 00:45:39 that is zero, minus zero times one. 551 00:45:39 --> 00:45:43 That is the other trick question. 552 00:45:43 --> 00:45:49 Zero times one is zero as well. So that zero minus zero is 553 00:45:49 --> 00:45:52 zero. I hope on Monday you should get 554 00:45:52 --> 00:45:55 more practice in recitation about how to compute 555 00:45:55 --> 00:45:58 determinants. Hopefully, it will become very 556 00:45:58 --> 00:46:01 easy for you all to compute this next. 557 00:46:01 --> 00:46:04 I know the first time it is kind of a shock because there 558 00:46:04 --> 00:46:07 are a lot of numbers and a lot of things to do. 559 00:46:07 --> 00:47:02 560 00:47:02 --> 00:47:08 Let me return to the question that you asked a bit earlier 561 00:47:08 --> 00:47:13 about how do you find actually volume if I don't want to know 562 00:47:13 --> 00:47:24 about determinants? Well, let's have another look 563 00:47:24 --> 00:47:31 at the volume. Let's say that I have three 564 00:47:31 --> 00:47:37 vectors. Let me put them this way, 565 00:47:37 --> 00:47:43 A, B and C. And let's try to see how else I 566 00:47:43 --> 00:47:49 could think about the volume of this box. 567 00:47:49 --> 00:47:54 Probably you know that the volume of a parallelepiped is 568 00:47:54 --> 00:47:57 the area of a base times the height. 569 00:47:57 --> 00:48:04 Sorry. The volume is the area of a 570 00:48:04 --> 00:48:12 base times the height. How do we do that in practice? 571 00:48:12 --> 00:48:15 Well, what is the area of a base? 572 00:48:15 --> 00:48:21 The base is a parallelogram in space with sides B and C. 573 00:48:21 --> 00:48:23 How do we find the area of the parallelogram in space? 574 00:48:23 --> 00:48:28 Well, we just discovered that. We can do it by taking that 575 00:48:28 --> 00:48:30 cross product. The area of a base, 576 00:48:30 --> 00:48:33 well, we take the cross product of B and C. 577 00:48:33 --> 00:48:36 That is not quite it because this is a vector. 578 00:48:36 --> 00:48:40 We would like a number while we take its length. 579 00:48:40 --> 00:48:44 That is pretty good. What about the height? 580 00:48:44 --> 00:48:48 Well, the height is going to be the component of A in the 581 00:48:48 --> 00:48:51 direction that is perpendicular to the base. 582 00:48:51 --> 00:48:53 Let's take a direction that is perpendicular to the base. 583 00:48:53 --> 00:48:57 Let's call that N, a unit vector in that 584 00:48:57 --> 00:49:00 direction. Then we can get the height by 585 00:49:00 --> 00:49:04 taking A dot n. That is what we saw at the 586 00:49:04 --> 00:49:10 beginning of class that A dot n will tell me how much A goes in 587 00:49:10 --> 00:49:17 the direction of n. Are you still with me? 588 00:49:17 --> 00:49:22 OK. Let's keep going. 589 00:49:22 --> 00:49:24 Let's think about this vector n. 590 00:49:24 --> 00:49:29 How do I get it? Well, I can get it by actually 591 00:49:29 --> 00:49:34 using cross product as well. Because I said the direction 592 00:49:34 --> 00:49:37 perpendicular to two vectors I can get by taking that cross 593 00:49:37 --> 00:49:40 product and looking at that direction. 594 00:49:40 --> 00:49:47 This is still B cross C length. And this one is, 595 00:49:47 --> 00:49:56 so I claim, n can be obtained by taking D cross C. 596 00:49:56 --> 00:49:58 Well, that comes in the right direction but it is not a unit 597 00:49:58 --> 00:50:01 vector. How do I get a unit vector? 598 00:50:01 --> 00:50:06 I divide by the length. Thanks. 599 00:50:06 --> 00:50:14 I take B cross C and I divide by length B cross C. 600 00:50:14 --> 00:50:20 Well, now I can probably simplify between these two guys. 601 00:50:20 --> 00:50:38 And so what I will get -- What I get out of this is that my 602 00:50:38 --> 00:50:53 volume equals A dot product with vector B cross C. 603 00:50:53 --> 00:50:55 But, of course, I have to be careful in which 604 00:50:55 --> 00:50:56 order I do it. If I do it the other way 605 00:50:56 --> 00:50:58 around, A dot B, I get a number. 606 00:50:58 --> 00:51:00 I cannot cross that. I really have to do the cross 607 00:51:00 --> 00:51:03 product first. I get the new vector. 608 00:51:03 --> 00:51:09 Then my dot product. The fact is that the 609 00:51:09 --> 00:51:16 determinant of A, B, C is equal to this so-called 610 00:51:16 --> 00:51:20 triple product. Well, that looks good 611 00:51:20 --> 00:51:23 geometrically. Let's try to check whether it 612 00:51:23 --> 00:51:27 makes sense with the formulas, just one small thing. 613 00:51:27 --> 00:51:32 We saw the determinant is a1 times determinant b2, 614 00:51:32 --> 00:51:37 b3, c2, c3 minus a2 times something plus a3 times 615 00:51:37 --> 00:51:42 something. I will let you fill in the 616 00:51:42 --> 00:51:45 numbers. That is this guy. 617 00:51:45 --> 00:51:48 What about this guy? Well, dot product, 618 00:51:48 --> 00:51:50 we take the first component of A, that is a1, 619 00:51:50 --> 00:51:53 we multiply by the first component of B cross C. 620 00:51:53 --> 00:51:55 What is the first component of B cross C? 621 00:51:55 --> 00:52:05 Well, it is this determinant b2, b3, c2, c3. 622 00:52:05 --> 00:52:09 If you put B and C instead of A and B into there you will get 623 00:52:09 --> 00:52:14 the i component is this guy plus a2 times the second component 624 00:52:14 --> 00:52:18 which is minus some determinant plus a3 times the third 625 00:52:18 --> 00:52:22 component which is, again, a determinant. 626 00:52:22 --> 00:52:24 And you can check. You get exactly the same 627 00:52:24 --> 00:52:26 expression, so everything is fine. 628 00:52:26 --> 00:52:32 There is no contradiction in math just yet. 629 00:52:32 --> 00:52:38 On Tuesday we will continue with this and we will start 630 00:52:38 --> 00:52:43 going into matrices, equations of planes and so on. 631 00:52:43 --> 00:52:46 Meanwhile, have a good weekend and please start working on your 632 00:52:46 --> 00:52:49 Problem Sets so that you can ask lots of questions to your TAs on 633 00:52:49 --> 00:52:51 Monday. 634 00:52:51 --> 00:52:56