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The dot product of two unit vectors behaves just oppositely: it is zero when the unit vectors are perpendicular and 1 if the unit vectors are parallel. Unit vectors enable two convenient identities: the dot product of two unit vectors yields the cosine (which may be positive or negative) of the angle between the two unit vectors.
Dot product. In mathematics, the dot product or scalar product[note 1] is an algebraic operation that takes two equal-length sequences of numbers (usually coordinate vectors), and returns a single number. In Euclidean geometry, the dot product of the Cartesian coordinates of two vectors is widely used. It is often called the inner product (or ...
Subtraction of two vectors can be geometrically illustrated as follows: to subtract b from a, place the tails of a and b at the same point, and then draw an arrow from the head of b to the head of a. This new arrow represents the vector (-b) + a, with (-b) being the opposite of b, see drawing. And (-b) + a = a − b. The subtraction of two ...
In mechanics, the net force is the sum of all the forces acting on an object. For example, if two forces are acting upon an object in opposite directions, and one force is greater than the other, the forces can be replaced with a single force that is the difference of the greater and smaller force. That force is the net force.
The following are important identities in vector algebra.Identities that only involve the magnitude of a vector ‖ ‖ and the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors A·B, apply to vectors in any dimension, while identities that use the cross product (vector product) A×B only apply in three dimensions, since the cross product is only defined there.
Vector multiplication. In mathematics, vector multiplication may refer to one of several operations between two (or more) vectors. It may concern any of the following articles: Dot product – also known as the "scalar product", a binary operation that takes two vectors and returns a scalar quantity. The dot product of two vectors can be ...
Determinant. In mathematics, the determinant is a scalar -valued function of the entries of a square matrix. The determinant of a matrix A is commonly denoted det (A), det A, or |A|. Its value characterizes some properties of the matrix and the linear map represented, on a given basis, by the matrix. In particular, the determinant is nonzero if ...
Direction cosine. In analytic geometry, the direction cosines (or directional cosines) of a vector are the cosines of the angles between the vector and the three positive coordinate axes. Equivalently, they are the contributions of each component of the basis to a unit vector in that direction.