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Definition of Vector
A vector is a quantity with a magnitude and a direction, represented by an arrow. A vector has head A and tail B, represented as , or as a lowercase letter , . Do not think of vector has a segment with a fixed place. It is actually embedded throughout the coordinate plane. 2 vectors are equal if their magnitudes and directions are equal. A zero vector has no magnitude; it starts and ends at A.
Paralellogram rule
If ABCD is a parallelogram, then .
Difference of 2 Vectors
is the vector with the same magnitude but opposite direction with . Given 2 vectors and , the difference of and is vector . , notated as .
such that . Since and are 2 vectors with the same direction, there is a real . Thus . such that
Right-handed Coordinate System is comprised of 2 axes and that are perpenciular to one another. O is called the origin. The vectors and are the unit vectors and | | | | . On the coordinate plane given any vector , draw and from A, draw perpendicular lines onto the x- and y- axes. Call the intersections Ax and Ay. We have . The ordered pair (Ax, Ay) is called the coordinate of vector . Thus, we can define equal vectors as vectors that have the same coordinates
Coordinate of Vectors
Given ,
. Then: