Vectors

A vector is something which consists of a magnitude (size) and a direction,

unlike a scalar which is just a magnitude. I guess the point of differentiating
between a scalar and vector only becomes evident at A-Level so there’s no
point really in telling you anything else, because you’ll hear it all again, (if you
take maths or physics that is).
Since it’s GCSE you should just learn to know vectors as arrows of set lengths,
pointing in different directions. Below is a tidy little picture of a vector, to which
I’m giving the beautiful name ‘a’. This arrow lies across a number of squares
which I can use to define it. To get from the tail to the head of the arrow you
have to move 2 squares right in the x direction and 4 squares up in the y
direction, in which ever order you please. In vector notation, I would write this as

 2
  The number of horizontal spaces you move goes on top,
 4
and the number of vertical spaces you move goes on the
bottom.

If the direction of a was reversed then to get from the tail

of the arrow to the head, you would have to move 2 spaces
to the left horizontally and 4 spaces down vertically. In
vector notation this would be…

 −2 
  You should gather that the rules for writing vectors are
 −4 
the same as those on the coordinate axes - left is negative,
right is positive and down is negative, up is positive.

Turning a vector in the opposite direction (that thing I did with

a just then) is the same as changing the sign of the vector; so
that a becomes – a. That’s one of the only biggish rules of
vectors you need to remember, which are:

1. A vector is drawn as an arrow measured from the tail to the head

2. To do the exact opposite of a vector, just change its sign

e.g. Two more vectors are shown below, which I’m going to label p and q. The
arrows on them show in which direction they point. From the tail to the head of p
you must go down 1 space and right 3 spaces. From the tail to the head of q
you’ve got to go up 2 spaces and right 5 spaces. In vector notation I should write
them as follows:

3 5
p=  and q= 
 −1  2
 Now supposing I was at the tail of p and
wanted to walk to the tail of q I could find a way
by examining the vectors. Whether I walked
straight across the gap or walked along the
vectors, the result would be the same, I’d get from
the tail of p to the tail of q. This journey is therefore
p-q. I start by walking from the tail to the head of
p (+p) and then walk from the head to the tail of q,
which, from the second rule above, is –q.
Therefore:

 3  5 3 − 5  −2 
p−q =  −  =   =  
 −1  2   −1 − 2   −3 

So, to get from the tail of p to the tail of q I’d have to move 2 spaces to the left
and 3 spaces down. Supposing I wanted to go to from the tail of q to the tail of p
then this would be the same as moving along q in the same direction as the
arrow (+q) and then up p in the opposite direction to its arrow (-p). Which is the
same as q-p so that:
5  3  5 − 3  2
q− p =  −  =   =  
 2   −1  2 − −1  3

This is the exact opposite of p-q as you should see.

Instead of being an arrow, a vector could just be a line

connecting two points, but the same principles apply. A picture
of this species is shown. The vector from A to B would be written
AB . To go from B to A you would write BA . Seeing as BA is the
exact opposite of AB you should see that, from the rules:

BA = - AB

The picture below shows three connected points labelled E, F and G. If you
travelled from E to F, had a snack at F and then travelled from F to G, the result
of this journey would be the same as travelling
straight from E to G so that:

EF + FG = EG

Thinking about what is said above, this would be

the same as writing EF − GF = EG because GF is
the exact opposite of FG . A large number of
vectors could be added in this way:
 e.g. EF − GF + GL − ML = EM
If you change the negative signs to positive by flipping the necessary vectors
you can see that this is the same as writing EF + FG + GL + LM = EM . You can
appreciate their order more if you write them this way.

An important thing to remember is that if you want to change a negative vector

to a positive vector, or visa versa, you MUST flip the letters over as well.

Vectors can be multiplied. Multiplying a vector is just like a scale factor, in that
both the horizontal and vertical values of the vector must be multiplied by that
amount.
e.g.
 4  3  4  12   −2  4   −8 
m=  3m =  =  −2m =  = 
 3  3 3   9   −2  3   −6 

For an example, let’s say 3 points lie on a straight line as

shown. The points are A B and C. To get from A to B you
have to travel 3 spaces right and 6 spaces up so that
 3
AB =   . If point C lies one third of the way up from A to B,
6
what is the vector AC ? Well if it’s a third the way up AB
then it must be 1  AB . Therefore:
3
 3 1
AC = 1    =  
3 6  2

Think about the vector BC . If C is a third of the way up AB then it must be two
thirds of BA so that BC = 2  BA . Therefore:
3

 −3   −2 
BC = 2  (− AB) =   =  
3  −6   −4 

To get from B to C you have to drop down 4 spaces and move left by 2. In the
calculation above don’t fail to notice that − AB was used because − AB = BA

One thing you might be asked to do is combine two vectors.

 2  −6 
e.g. given that L =   and M =   find a combination of the two where
 4  −8 
the resultant vector is parallel to the x axis.
 If it’s parallel to the x axis then the y (vertical) value of the vector must be zero.
By multiplying L by 2 and then adding it to M I can make this so:

 2  2   −6   4   −6   −2 
2L + M =   +   =  +   =  
 2  4   −8   8   −8   0 

another way could be by halving M:

1 
 2   2  − 6   2   −3   −1
L+ 1 M =  + =  +   =  
2  4   1  − 8   4   −4   0 
 2 

You can see that I’ve created a combination of the two where the resultant Y
value is zero.

A vector parallel to the Y axis could be created in the following way:

 3  2   −6   6   −6   0 
3L + M =   +   =  +   =  
 3  4   −8  12   −8   4 

The resultant vector has no horizontal component so it is parallel to the y axis.

One final thing you may be asked to do is find the

magnitude of a vector, and this is purely simple trigonometry.
For example, you are asked to find the length of vector L
above; it is just the hypotenuse of a triangle with sides of
length 2 and 4. Therefore the length of L is just
22 + 42 = 20 .

Or maybe you need to find the length of the vector

 −4 
Z =   , once again it is just the hypotenuse of a triangle of
 −3 
sides 3 and 4. So Z = −32 + −42 = 25 = 5

…and that’s vectors for you.