dot product

The dot product or scalar product is defined as

$\displaystyle \mathbf{A} \cdot \mathbf{B} = A_x B_x + A_y B_y + A_z B_z $

Geometric interpretation

Using a geometric interpretation allows us to find the angle between two vectors because

$\displaystyle \mathbf{A} \cdot \mathbf{B} = \left \vert \mathbf{A} \right \vert \left \vert \mathbf{B} \right \vert \cos \theta$

It is also useful to note that if the two vectors are perpindicular, their dot product is zero since

$\displaystyle \cos \left (90^o \right) = 0$



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As of this snapshot date, this entry was owned by bloftin.