Magnitude and Direction of a Vector

This monograph presents the basic, though hopefully fairly comprehensive, introduction to working with vectors. Vectors manifest in a wide variety of ways, from displacement, velocity and acceleration to forces and fields. This paper is devoted to the mathematics of vectors; their application in specific situations is equally presented. Vectors & Scalars In everyday conversation, when we discuss a quantity we are generally discussing a scalar quantity, which has only a magnitude. If we say that we drive 10 miles, we are talking about the total distance we have traveled. Scalar variables will be denoted, in this article, as an italicized variable, such as a. A vector quantity, or vector, provides information about not just the magnitude but also the direction of the quantity. When giving directions to a house, it isn't enough to say that it's 10 miles away, but the direction of those 10 miles must also be provided for the information to be useful. Variables that are vectors will be indicated with a boldface variable, although it is common to see vectors denoted with small arrows above the variable. Just as we don't say the other house is -10 miles away, the magnitude of a vector is always a positive number, or rather the absolute value of the "length" of the vector (although the quantity may not be a length, it may be a velocity, acceleration, force, etc.) A negative in front a vector doesn't indicate a change in the magnitude, but rather in the direction of the vector. In the examples above, distance is the scalar quantity (10 miles) but displacement is the vector quantity (10 miles to the northeast). Similarly, speed is a scalar quantity while velocity is a vector quantity. A unit vector is a vector that has a magnitude of one. A vector representing a unit vector is usually also boldface, although it will have a carat (^) above it to indicate the unit nature of the variable. The unit vector x, when written with a carat, is generally read as "x-hat" because the carat looks kind of like a hat on the variable. The zero vector, or null vector, is a vector with a magnitude of zero. It is written as 0 in this paper.
1

Vector Components Vectors are generally oriented on a coordinate system, the most popular of which is the two-dimensional Cartesian plane. The Cartesian plane has a horizontal axis which is labeled x and a vertical axis labeled y. Some advanced applications of vectors in physics require using a threedimensional space, in which the axes are x, y, and z. This article will deal mostly with the two-dimensional system, though the concepts can be expanded with some care to three dimensions without too much trouble. Vectors in multiple-dimension coordinate systems can be broken up into their component vectors. In the two-dimensional case, this results in a xcomponent and a y-component. The picture to the right is an example of a Force vector (F) broken into its components (Fx & Fy). When breaking a vector into its components, the vector is a sum of the components: F = Fx + Fy To determine the magnitude of the components, you apply rules about triangles that are learned in your math classes. Considering the angle theta (the name of the Greek symbol for the angle in the drawing) between the xaxis (or x-component) and the vector. If we look at the right triangle that includes that angle, we see that Fx is the adjacent side, Fy is the opposite side, and F is the hypotenuse. From the rules for right triangles, we know then that: Fx / F = cos theta and Fy / F = sin theta which gives us Fx = F cos theta and Fy = F sin theta Note that the numbers here are the magnitudes of the vectors. We know the direction of the components, but we're trying to find their magnitude, so we strip away the directional information and perform these scalar calculations to figure out the magnitude. Further application of trigonometry can be used to find other relationships (such as the tangent) relating between some of these quantities, but I think that's enough for now.

A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction. (Magnitude just means 'size'.) Examples of Vector Quantities:

I travel 30 km towards North direction (magnitude is 30 km, direction is North - this is a displacement vector) The train is going 80 km/h towards Sydney (magnitude is 80 km/h, direction is 'towards Sydney' - it is a velocity vector) The force on the bridge is 50 N acting downwards (the magnitude is 50 Newtons and the direction is down - it is a force vector)

Other examples of vectors include Acceleration, momentum, angular momentum, magnetic and electric fields. Each of the examples above involves magnitude and direction. A vector is not the same as a scalar. Scalars have magnitude only. For example, a speed of 35 km/h is a scalar quantity, since no direction is given. Other examples of scalar quantities are Volume, density, temperature, mass, speed, time, length, distance, work and energy. Each of these quantities has magnitude only, and do not involve direction. Vector Notation We will use a bold capital letter to name vectors. For example, a force vector could be written as F. Alternative vector notations

Some textbooks write vectors using an arrow above the vector name, like this: You will also see vectors written using matrix-like notation. For example, the vector acting from (0, 0) in the direction of the point (2, 3) can be written

A vector is drawn using an arrow. The length of the arrow indicates the magnitude of the vector. The direction of the vector is represented by (not surprisingly :-) the direction of the arrow.
Example 1 - Vectors

The displacement vector A has direction 'up' and a magnitude of 4 cm. Vector B has the same direction as A, and has half the magnitude (2 cm). Vector C has the same magnitude as A (4 units), but it has different direction. Vector D is equivalent to vector A. It has the same magnitude and the same direction. It doesn't matter that A is in a different position to D - they are still considered to be equivalent vectors because they have the same magnitude and same direction. We can write: A=D Note: We cannot write A = C because even though A and C have the same magnitude (4 cm), they have different direction. They are not equivalent. Free and Localized Vectors So far we have seen examples of "free" vectors. We draw them without any fixed position. Another way of representing vectors is to use directed line segments. This means the vector is named using an initial point and a terminal point. Such a vector is called a "localized vector".
Example 2 - Localized Vectors

A vector OP has initial point O and terminal point P. When using directed line segments, we still use an arrow for the drawing, with P at the arrow end. The length of the line OP is an indication of the magnitude of the vector.
4

We could have another vector RS as follows. It has initial point R and terminal point S.

Because the 2 vectors have the same magnitude and the same direction (they are both horizontal and pointing to the right), then we say they are equal. We would write:
OP = RS

Note that we can move vectors around in space and as long as they have the same vector magnitude and the same direction, then they are considered equal vectors. Magnitude of a Vector We indicate the magnitude of a vector using vertical lines on either side of the vector name. The magnitude of vector PQ is written |PQ|. We also used vertical lines like this earlier in the Numbers chapter (where it was called 'absolute value', a similar concept to magnitude). So for example, vector A above has magnitude 4 units. We would write the magnitude of vector A as: |A|=4 Scalar Quantities A scalar quantity has magnitude, but not direction. For example, a pen may have length "10 cm". The length 10 cm is a scalar quantity - it has magnitude, but no direction is involved. Scalar Multiplication We can increase or decrease the magnitude of a vector by multiplying the vector by a scalar.

Example 3 - Scalar Multiplication

In the examples we saw earlier, vector B (2 units) is half the size of vector A (which is 4 units) . We can write: B = 0.5 A This is an example of a scalar multiple. We have multiplied the vector A by the scalar 0.5.
Example 4 - Scalar Multiplication

We have 3 weights tied to a beam. The first weight is W1 = 5 N, the second is W2 = 2 N and the third is W3 = 4 N.

We can represent these weights using a vector diagram (where the length of the vector represents the magnitude) as follows:

They are vectors because they all have a direction (down) and a magnitude. Each of the following scalar multiples is true for this situation: Since 5 = 2.5 2, we can write: W1 = 2.5 W2 Since 2 = 0.5 4, we can write: W2 = 0.5 W3 Since 4 = 0.8 5, we can write: W3 = 0.8 W1 Each of these statements is a scalar multiplication. Vectors in Opposite Directions We have 2 teams playing a tug-of-war match. At the beginning of the game, they are very evenly matched and are pulling with equal force in opposite directions. We could name the vectors OA and OB.

We can represent the tug of war using a vector diagram:

We note that the magnitude of each vector is the same, but they are acting in opposite directions. In such a case, we indicate the opposite directions by use of a negative sign. So we write:
OA = OB

Zero Vectors A zero vector has magnitude of 0. It can have any direction.A vector may have zero magnitude at an instance in time. For example, a boat bobbing up and down in the water will have a positive velocity vector when moving up, and a negative velocity vector when moving down. At the instant when it is at the top of its motion, the magnitude is zero. In the tug-of-war example above, the teams are evenly matched at a certain instant and neither side is able to move. In this case, we would have: OA + OB = 0 The 2 force vectors OA and OB, operating in opposite directions, cancel each other out. Unit Vectors A unit vector has length 1 unit and can take any direction. A onedimensional unit vector is usually written i.
Example 5 - Unit Vector

In the following diagram, we see the unit vector (in red, labeled i) and two other vectors that have been obtained from i using scalar multiplication (2i and 7i).

Rate of Change of Variable Vectors We saw in Variable Vectors how vectors can vary with time. In this section, we learn how to find the rate of change of such varying vectors. To find the time rate of change of a vector, we simply differentiate each component.
Example 1

Let us consider the 2-dimensional force vector example from before: F = (3t2 + 5) i + 4t j The time rate of change of this vector is given by the derivative with respect to t of each component.

At time t = 5, the rate of change of the vector F is the vector 30 i + 4 j. The units will be N/s. Example 2 The 3-D acceleration vector above was given by A = (5t) i + (2t + 3) j + (t2 + 10) k The rate of change of this vector is given by differentiating each term, as follows:

The units will be m/s3 At the specific time t = 4 s, the rate of change of the vector will be 5 i + 2 j + 8 k m/s3

Rate of Change of a Position Vector in Elliptical Motion Next we consider the case when the terminal point of a vector is moving in an ellipse.
Example 3

The following vector (units in m) follows such a pattern at time t (units in s): P = (3 cos t) i + (sin t) j This expression is based on the expression for a circle , P = (cos t) i + (sin t) j. The 3 in the i term stretches the circle into an ellipse. Of course, the time t is measured in radians, not degrees. Following is the graph of the motion of the terminal point of the ellipse. The terminal point starts at t = 0 s at the position (3, 0) and proceeds in an anti-clockwise direction. Its position at various times is indicated on the graph.

This idea of a curve being generated as a point moves in time is the same concept as Parametric Equations that we came across before. The resulting vector has initial point at the origin as above. The vector for the cases t = 0 s (magnitude 3 m, direction horizontal, to the right), t = 1 s and t = 2 s are shown below:

10

To find the time rate of change of the position vector in elliptical motion, we differentiate the terms as we did earlier. Since: P = 3 cos t i + sin t j then

Note that the magnitude of the vector changes as time goes on because the terminal point is moving around the ellipse.To find the rate of change at particular times, we substitute in values of t. At t = 0 s, rate of change =0i+j =j

Considering our diagram above, this answer makes sense. When the terminal point starts to move, it is in the vertical direction only (no horizontal component is present). At t = 1 s, we expect a negative horizontal component and a positive vertical component (the terminal point is moving up and to the left at t = 1 s). Substituting t = 1 (in radians, of course) gives us: rate of change = (-3 sin 1) i + (cos 1) j = -2.52 i + 0.54 j
11

The x-value is negative and the y-value is positive, as expected. At t = 6 s, we expect a positive horizontal component (the terminal point is moving to the right) and a positive vertical component (the terminal point is moving up). rate of change = (-3 sin 6) i + (cos 6) j = 0.84 i + 0.96 j

Both components are positive, as expected.

12