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The Dot Product

This document contains lecture notes on the dot product of vectors. The dot product is defined as the sum of the products of corresponding components of two vectors, or alternatively as the product of their magnitudes and the cosine of the angle between them. The dot product has several important properties: it is commutative, distributes over vector addition, and is zero if and only if the vectors are orthogonal/perpendicular. Examples are provided to illustrate computing the dot product and using it to find the angle between vectors.

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35 views

The Dot Product

This document contains lecture notes on the dot product of vectors. The dot product is defined as the sum of the products of corresponding components of two vectors, or alternatively as the product of their magnitudes and the cosine of the angle between them. The dot product has several important properties: it is commutative, distributes over vector addition, and is zero if and only if the vectors are orthogonal/perpendicular. Examples are provided to illustrate computing the dot product and using it to find the angle between vectors.

Uploaded by

Kate Naybe
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Jim Lambers

MAT 169
Fall Semester 2009-10
Lecture 21 Notes

These notes correspond to Section 10.3 in the text.

The Dot Product


One of the most fundamental problems concerning vectors is that of computing the angle between
two given vectors. It has numerous applications in mathematics and other sciences. In physics,
it plays a role in the decomposition of forces into component forces that act in various directions.
In computer science, it is useful for creating two-dimensional visualizations of three-dimensional
objects. In computational mathematics, it is a vital ingredient in algorithms for data fitting,
approximation of functions, and other essential problems.
Let u = ⟨𝑢1 , 𝑢2 , 𝑢3 ⟩ and v = ⟨𝑣1 , 𝑣2 , 𝑣3 ⟩ be two vectors with a common initial point. Then u, v
and u − v form a triangle, as shown in Figure 1. By the Law of Cosines,

∣u − v∣2 = ∣u∣2 + ∣v∣2 − 2∣u∣∣v∣ cos 𝜃,

where 𝜃 is the angle between u and v. Using the formula for the magnitude of a vector, we obtain

(𝑢1 − 𝑣1 )2 + (𝑢2 − 𝑣2 )2 + (𝑢3 − 𝑣3 )2 = (𝑢21 + 𝑢22 + 𝑢23 ) + (𝑣12 + 𝑣22 + 𝑣32 ) − 2∣u∣∣v∣ cos 𝜃.

Simplifying yields
𝑢1 𝑣1 + 𝑢2 𝑣2 + 𝑢3 𝑣3 = ∣u∣∣v∣ cos 𝜃.
We therefore define the dot product, also known as the inner product, of u and v to be the
number u ⋅ v given by
u ⋅ v = 𝑢1 𝑣1 + 𝑢2 𝑣2 + 𝑢3 𝑣3 .
An equivalent definition, typically used in physics, is

u ⋅ v = ∣u∣∣v∣ cos 𝜃,

where 𝜃 is the angle between u and v.


Example Let u = ⟨1, −1, 2⟩ and v = ⟨−2, 1, 3⟩. Then

u ⋅ v = 1(−2) + (−1)(1) + 2(3) = −2 − 1 + 6 = 3.

To obtain the angle 𝜃 between u and v, we compute


u⋅v 3 3
cos 𝜃 = =√ √ = √ ,
∣u∣∣v∣ 6 14 2 21

1
Figure 1: By the Triangle Law, the vectors u, v and u − v form a triangle. The angle between u
and v is 𝜃.

which yields 𝜃 ≈ 1.237 radians, or 70.893 degrees. □


Example Let u and v be vectors such that ∣u∣ = 3, ∣v∣ = 4, and the angle between them is 𝜋/3
radians, or 60 degrees. Then
𝜋 1
u ⋅ v = 3(4) cos = 12 = 6.
3 2
□
The dot product has the following properties, which can be proved from the definition.

1. u ⋅ u = ∣u∣2

2. Commutativity: u ⋅ v = v ⋅ u

3. Distributive property: u ⋅ (v + w) = u ⋅ v + u ⋅ w

4. (𝑐u) ⋅ v = 𝑐(u ⋅ v) = u ⋅ (𝑐v), for any scalar 𝑐

2
5. 0 ⋅ u = 0

Example By the first, second and third properties, the length of a sum of vectors u + v can be
expressed in terms of inner products as follows:

∣u + v∣2 = (u + v) ⋅ (u + v)
= u⋅u+v⋅u+u⋅v+v⋅v
= ∣u∣2 + 2u ⋅ v + ∣v∣2 .

□
Suppose that two nonzero vectors u and v have an angle between them that is 𝜃 = 𝜋/2. That
is, u and v are perpendicular, or orthogonal. Then, we have
𝜋
u ⋅ v = ∣u∣∣v∣ cos = 0.
2
On the other hand, if u ⋅ v = 0, then we must have cos 𝜃 = 0, where 𝜃 is the angle between them,
which implies that 𝜃 = 𝜋/2, and therefore u and v are orthogonal. In summary, u ⋅ v = 0 if and
only if u and v are orthogonal.
Example Let u = ⟨𝛼, 𝛽⟩ be any nonzero vector in 𝑉2 . Then a vector that has the same length as
u, and is orthogonal to u is v = ⟨𝛽, −𝛼⟩. To verify this, we compute

u ⋅ v = ⟨𝛼, 𝛽⟩ ⋅ ⟨𝛽, −𝛼⟩ = 𝛼𝛽 + 𝛽(−𝛼) = 0.

By the fourth property of the dot product, w = ⟨−𝛽, 𝛼⟩ also satisfies ∣w∣ = ∣u∣, and is orthogonal
to u. □

3
Summary
∙ The dot product, or inner product, of two vectors, is the sum of the products of corresponding
components. Equivalently, it is the product of their magnitudes, times the cosine of the angle
between them.

∙ The dot product of a vector with itself is the square of its magnitude.

∙ The dot product of two vectors is commutative; that is, the order of the vectors in the product
does not matter.

∙ Multiplying a vector by a constant multiplies its dot product with any other vector by the
same constant.

∙ The dot product of a vector with the zero vector is zero.

∙ Two nonzero vectors are perpendicular, or orthogonal, if and only if their dot product is equal
to zero.

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