Vector calculus with Einstein notation quick reference Page 1 of 1

Kronecker Delta and Levi-Civita relations:

δii = 3
δi j δ jk = δik
εi jk εi jm = 2δkm
εi jk εimn = δ jm δkn − δ jn δkm
εi jk εi jk = 6

Scalar, vector, and 2-tensor operations

αv + βu = (αvi + βui ) ei
  
αA + βB = αAi j + βBi j ei ⊗ e j
 
vA = (vl el ) A ji e j ⊗ ei = ei δl j vl A ji = ei v j A ji
 
Av = Ai j ei ⊗ e j (vl el ) = ei δ jl Ai j vl = ei Ai j v j
     
AB = Ai j ei ⊗ e j Bi j ei ⊗ e j = Ail Bl j ei ⊗ e j
tr (AB) = Ai j B ji
 
A : B = tr AT B = Ai j Bi j

Inner, outer, and cross products:

a · b = ai bi
 
a ⊗ b = ai b j ei ⊗ e j
a × b = εi jk ai b j ek
a × b × c = ai b j ci e j − ai bi c j e j
= (a · c) b − (a · b) c
Basic translations into summation convention:
∇ = ei ∂i Del operator
∆ = ∂i ∂i Laplacian operator, ∇2 = ∇ · ∇
∇ϕ = ei ∂i ϕ gradient : scalar → vector
 
∇∇ϕ = ∂i ∂ j ϕ ei ⊗ e j gradient gradient : scalar → tensor
 
∇u = ∂ j ui ei ⊗ e j gradient : vector → tensor
∇ · u = ∂i u i divergence: vector → scalar
 
∇ × u = εi jk ∂i u j ek curl: vector → vector

Tautologies using summation convention:

∇ × (∇ϕ) = 0 ⇐⇒ εi jk ∂i ∂ j ϕek = 0 curl gradient scalar
∇ · (∇ × u) = 0 ⇐⇒ εi jk ∂i ∂ j uk = 0 divergence curl vector