Vector Operations Summary

Physics Defs
Predefined Coordinate Vector Components in r Dot product b
Vectors: [i j] Coordinate System
a
ab
1  r j b
i  j a
0  ur
y = r sin()

a  b  a  b  cos( ab )
0  sin()
 i
j  i
1  x = r cos()
cos()

Used here Functions: û    = cos     i  sin     j

 i   j = cos     i  sin     j
x y
Vectors: r = x i  y j a = ax i  ay j b = bx i  by j ur =
r r

Construct a vector Dot product operations

Cartesian components
x x  r  cos( )  i  r Definition a  b  a  b  cos( )  ax  bx  a y  by
r     x  i  y  j  x, y
 y y  r  sin( )  j  r
 r  cos( ),sin( )  r  uˆ ( ) Magnitude r  r  r  r  x2  y 2

x  r  cos( )  i  r
Construct a unit vector Components
y  r  sin( )  j  r
1 x 1 x y
uˆ ( r )      x  i  y  j   i   j
r  y r r r
Angle between a and b:
 a b 
 ab  acos(u a  ub )  acos 
 cos( )   a b 
 cos( ),sin( )  cos( )  i  sin( )  j   
 sin( )  Vectors are perpendicular (orthogonal) if ab = 0;

Vectors are parallel if |uaub| = 1;

1
 Vector Components in r
x
[i j] Coordinate System r  x, y  x  i  y  j   
 y
r x  i  r y  j r
j y = r sin()
ur
r  r  r  r  x2  y 2
sin()
 1 x y
i
u r   r   i   j  cos( )  i  sin( )  j
x = r cos() r r r
cos()
Fundamental Trigonometric Functions (Refer to Figure Above) Cautions and Warnings:
x 1 r 1
cos( )   i  u r sec( )   tan 1 ( x)  , but
r cos( ) x tan( x)
y 1 r
sin( )   j  ur csc( )   tan 2 ( x)   tan( x)
2
r sin( ) y
y sin( ) j  u r 1 cos( ) x cos(2  )  2  cos( )
tan( )    cot( )   
x cos( ) i  u r tan( ) sin( ) y
= cos     i sin   
i 
Euler's magic Formula: e
arcsin( x)  cos 2 ( )  sin 2 ( )  1
  1   inverse sine  "angle whose sine is x"
 sin ( x) 
cos(  )  cos(  )
arccos( x) 
    inverse cosine  "angle whose cosine is x"
1
 cos ( x)  sin(  )   sin(  )
arctan( x)  cos(   )  cos( )  cos(  )  sin( )  sin(  )  NOTE "  "!
 
   tan 1 ( x)   inverse tangent  "angle whose tangent is x"
 atan( x)  sin(   )  sin( )  cos(  )  cos( )  sin(  )
 
tan( )  tan(  )
  atan2( x, y )  "angle whose tangent is
x
, rectified to  180" tan(   ) 
y 1  tan( )  tan(  )