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Vector quantities are extremely
useful quantities in physics.
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Most of the quantities that we
meet in physics and engineering
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are in fact vector quantities.
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First of all, we need to
explore just what that means.
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What are vector quantities?
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The quantities.
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That have two numbers associated
with them in order to specify
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them completely. A magnitude and
a direction. So any vector
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quantity must have these two
things associated with it in
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some way. A magnitude, and in
some way a direction.
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So for instance, let's take
something quite simple.
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Let's take a quantity known
as Displacement.
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If we think about it,
displacement what we have to
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specify is how far away we are
from a fixed point.
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And in what direction we are. So
if we fix a .0 and we say we've
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got a point P over here
somewhere, then in order to
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specify the displacement of this
point P from the .0 exactly, we
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have to say how long Opie is.
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The magnitude and we have to
say in which direction we
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have traveled to get from O
to pee its direction.
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So we've got 2 numbers that
would specify the position of P,
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the Displacement precisely, the
magnitude and the direction.
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Now there are all manner
of quantities that are
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vector quantities. So for
instance another one that
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we will meet is velocity.
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Velocity is speed in a
particular direction. So if we
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say we're traveling at 60 miles
an hour, then we're saying
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that's on speed, but we haven't
specified in which direction
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we're going. So if we say we're
traveling 60 miles an hour due
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North, then we specified a
vector because we specified a
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magnitude and direction.
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A quantity which doesn't have
magnitude and direction but
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just has magnitude alone is
called a scalar.
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So let's just have a look at
those scale us.
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Scalar quantities are
things like distance.
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How far away?
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We are from a fixed point. How
far we've traveled, but no
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mention of a direction Mass.
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Is another scalar? How much
of a quantity of we got 10
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kilograms, 20 kilograms?
There isn't a direction
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associated with that, so
that's just a scalar
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quantity.
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How then can we actually
represent vector quantities?
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Because they've got a magnitude
and direction, we can represent
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a vector quantity by a line
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segment. Because this line
segment has a magnitude, its
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length and it has a direction
as well. So that line segment
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is clearly different to that
line segment. They may have the
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same length if I measured them,
they might have, but they've
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clearly got very different
directions and so they
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represent very different
vectors.
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Right, let's label these AB.
Usually we put an arrow on that
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to show the direction that we're
going in from A to B, because
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going from B to a is going in
the opposite direction a
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different direction, so that's
how you might see these things
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represented in textbooks. You
might also see them.
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With a little letter against
him, usually that letter is in
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very heavy black type known as
Clarendon time. It's very
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difficult to show that when
you're writing, and So what we
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usually do is we put a bar
either underneath or on the top
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of the letter.
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Doesn't matter whether it's
underneath or whether it's on
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top. That's up to you and the
conventions that's being used at
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the time. And normally we would
say that's the vector a bar.
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Quite often. These vectors
are attached or referd to
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some fixed .0 an origin.
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So often we might say the
position vector of a point P
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with respect to an origin. Oh so
then we have our position vector
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R Bar for the point P. Notice
the position vector refers to
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this line segment. Opi doesn't
just refer to pee itself. If we
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wanted to refer to pee itself as
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a. Point, we'd have to give it
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some coordinates. But the
position vector of P is this
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line segment OP. And if we want
to write that down in text, what
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we might say is Opie with a bar
over it to show we're going from
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oh to pee and to show it to
vector is equal to R Bar. This
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looks a bit odd. Bars on top and
bars underneath, so perhaps one
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of the things that we might do
to keep it tidy is in fact to
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agree. To put all the bars on
top of said, it doesn't really
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matter which way you choose to
do it. That's entirely up to
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you or up to the textbook. All
the lecture that you've been
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following.
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OK. We've got an idea that
vectors can be represented by
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line segments, and we know how
to write them down, and we know
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how to recognize them in books.
Now we need to look at a little
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bit of notation and some of the
properties that that notation
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allows us to write down.
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What if we say that two vectors,
a bar and B bar are equal? What
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does a statement like that
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actually mean? Well, one of the
things that it means is we know
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that the length of A.
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Length of a bar is actually
equal to the length of rebar.
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We also know that they are in
the same direction.
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So a statement about the
equality of two vectors tells us
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two things. First, that they are
equal in magnitude, the length
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of the line segments which
represent them are equal.
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Secondly, that they are in the
same direction. Now we need a
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way of writing this down. This
is very, very cumbersome. Let's
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deal with the in the same
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direction. First of all,
in the same direction is
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the same as saying that a
bar is parallel to be bar.
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In the same direction means
they are parallel. What about
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length? We need some sort of
notation for us to be able to
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talk about the length.
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So let's have a look at that.
How might we express it if we've
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got a vector like this?
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Then writing that line segment
as a vector, we write it like
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that. But if we want to say the
length, maybe then we can write
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it as a bee without the bar on
top. Or we can say that it's
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equal to the modulus of a bar.
These two vertical lines mean
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modulus or size of. If we
represent our vector in this
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way. A bar.
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Then the modulus of a bar we can
write as that the size of or we
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can leave the bar off and This
is why it's so important when
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writing vectors to keep the
notation that shows when they
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are vectors with the bar on the
top and when it's just a length
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in a textbook, you can tell the
difference quite easily. This
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will be in heavy Clarendon type
heavy black type, and this will
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usually be in light type.
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Usually italic type, but when
you're doing work for
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yourself, it's very, very
important to write a vector as
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a vector and to write a scalar
or the modulus of vector as a
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scalar or as a modulus.
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OK. We've got these quantities
called vectors. We know that we
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can represent them by line
segments. We know how to express
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the magnitude or the length of
that line segment, and therefore
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the magnitude of the quantity.
We also know something about
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what equality means. So what we
have to look at now is how can
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we add two vectors together?
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If we can define the addition
of two vectors, then we can
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define the addition of any
number of vectors simply by
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repeating the process. Take
the first 2, add them
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together, then add on the
third one to that and so on.
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So all we really need to look
at is how do we add two of
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them together. So let's take
a vector a bar.
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Let's take a
vector be bar.
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How can we add these
two vectors together?
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One way is to think about.
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Vectors as being displacements
after all displacement is a
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vector quantity, and to think
about what would happen if we
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were to travel along this
displacement, we'd get to there.
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And then if we were to travel
the same displacement be bar.
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Would come to their.
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So we would have taken a bar and
in some way added on B Bar.
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And so the result ought to be
this vector across here. And
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that's exactly the way that we
add these two together. We put
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them there for a bar.
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And there for be bar we put them
end to end and the result.
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Is what we get by joining up
the triangle, so that is a
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bar plus B bar.
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I think that was called the
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triangle law. There is another
way of doing this.
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Game, let's take those two
vectors a bar.
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And be bar. What's the 2nd way
of adding them together the 2nd
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way of adding them together is
to make use of the parallelogram
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law. So we attempt to
form a parallelogram,
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so there's a bar.
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There's people.
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And what we do is we complete.
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The parallelogram now
parallelogram opposite sides are
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equal and parallel, so there's
be bar and there it is repeated
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there. Same magnitude, same
direction. So these two are
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equal as vectors.
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And then we join that up there
and again. This is now a bar
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once again because opposite
sides of a parallelogram are
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equal in magnitude and are
parallel. I in the same
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direction, so these two opposite
sides are equivalent as vectors.
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And then of course the resultant
as we sometimes call it or the
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sum is there across that
diagonal. A bar plus B Bar.
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So this is exactly the same as
we have previously with a
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triangle law, because here we've
got that same triangle
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replicated. Now this is called
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the sum. And it's also
called the resultant.
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And we use those two words
interchangeably, the sum or
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the resultant.
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Having got that, how to add
them together? How do we
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subtract 2 vectors?
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Well again, let's have a
look at a bar.
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And.
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Be bar.
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Ask ourselves how would we
subtract that from that. So what
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is a bar minus B bar?
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Well. We need a convention here.
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Let's think of this as a
bar plus minus B Bar.
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And then ask ourselves what's
minus B bar? Well, if this is B
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bar from there to there.
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Then that which is equal in
magnitude to be bar.
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But in the reverse direction is
minus B Bar.
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So the question, what is a bar
minus B bar becomes? What is a
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bar added to minus B bar? So
let's just have a look at that
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using the triangle law there
we've got a bar.
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There we've got be
bar so minus B bar
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must be this one.
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And so therefore we've
added minus B bar on the
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end across. There would
be a bar minus B Bar.
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So we've got a geometric
representation.
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Having added two different
vectors together, we need to
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have a look. Now what happens
when you add two of the same
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vectors together. So that's a
bar and we add on another a
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bar. Add it on the end.
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And then again we add on another
a bar, so we've a bar, a bar. So
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what do we got? Well, clearly
we've got three of them, and So
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what we must have is that a bar
plus a bar, a bar is 3 a bar.
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And so if we have N times by a
bar, what this must mean is a
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bar plus a bar plus plus.
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A bar and so we'll have here N
of these a bars added together.
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1 final little bit of notation
that we just need to have a look
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at and that's to do with the
modulus. The length of a vector
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we know. The modulus the
size of this vector.
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We would write as a
with no bar on it.
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What we want is a notation for
a vector that has unit modulus
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unit length. Its length
is just one.
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And what we do for that is we
put a little hat on it instead
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of a bar we put a hat on
it and that stands for a unit
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vector, its length, its size,
its modulus is one. So if we do
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that, that is equal to 1.
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But actually gives
us a way of writing.
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The vector a bar, because
what it means is that the
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vector a bar, because it's
got magnitude little a. We
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can write it as little a
times by the unit vector.
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So a bar can be written as
little a. The magnitude of A the
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length, the size of it.
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Multiplied by this vector,
which has a unit vector which
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has unit length length one, and
that's going to be very very
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helpful to us indeed. OK, let's
now have a look at using these
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vectors in some geometry.
Vectors are very, very
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powerful. They can help us to
prove some theorems that will
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take a great deal of space and
time if we working in Euclidean
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geometry.
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Let's begin by looking at the
theorem, which is called the
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midpoint theorem. I'm going to
take two points.
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A.
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And be these two points are
going to be defined with respect
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to an origin. Oh.
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And so I've got the position
vector of a, let's call it a bar
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and the position vector of B,
let's call it.
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Be bar. If I join A to B
with a straight line, then I've
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got a triangle.
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I'm going to take the midpoints.
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Of these two sides, an.
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And N. I'm going
to join them up.
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The question is, is there any
relationship between this line
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MN and this line AB?
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So let's have a look and see
if there is we can do this
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very easily with vectors.
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First of all, let's think how
can we write a B as a vector?
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May be.
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Well, one thing about vectors is
they are line segments, so they
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are displacements and so we can
think of a journey from A to B
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as being a journey via the
origin and so we can write that
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as. AO plus
OB.
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Now in going from a 20.
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We're going against the
direction of a bar.
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So OK is in fact this
vector minus a bar.
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Going from oh to be is in the
direction of B bar and so that
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is B bar and so we've got B bar
minus a bar.
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What about the vector MN?
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Let's write that down MN.
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Or following the same
reasoning, this is Mo
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plus ONMO plus ON.
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From M2, Oh well, we know that M
is the midpoint of OK, so it's
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half way along it and it's in
the same direction, so om must
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be 1/2 of a bar where going in.
Actual fact from M2. Oh, so
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we're going against that
direction, and so it must be
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minus 1/2 of a bars. Plus here
we're going from O2 N.
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So we're going half way along
Obi and we're going in the
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direction of B bar so that
vector ON must be 1/2 of B Bar.
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How else can we write this
down? Well, for a start,
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there's a common factor of
1/2 that we can take out.
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And then we can write that as B
bar minus a bar.
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Now we can compare these two.
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What we can see is that the
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vector AB. And the vector MN
have the same vector part. They
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both got this be bar minus a
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bar. Further, MN is actually
a half of a bar minus B
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bar. So what we've managed to
prove is that MN as a vector
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is equal to 1/2 of a B
as a vector.
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And what does that mean?
Remember any statement about
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vectors tells us two things
tells us something about the
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magnitude and something about
the directions. So this must
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mean that these two vectors are
equal in magnitude, and so MN
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must be equal to 1/2 of a bee.
In other words, the length of MN
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is 1/2 the length of a B, and
they must be in the same
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direction. And so M Ann is.
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Carol till 1/2 of a bee and
therefore Parral to AB. Now this
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result is known as the midpoint
theorem for a triangle, which
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states if you join the midpoint.
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Of two sides of a triangle. Then
the resulting line is equal to
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1/2, the third side of the
triangle and these parallel to
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it, and that's what we've got
here. Eh? Man is 1/2 of a be an
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is 1/2, the third side an MN is
parallel to a be in the same
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direction. So let's now
apply this result. 2
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quadrilaterals indeed, to
any four points in space.
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So let me take my
four points ABC.
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And a.
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Complete these ABC and D and
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let's label. The midpoints of
each of these line segments will
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call them P.
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QRS.
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Now let's join them up.
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The question we can ask is what
sort of shape is PQ R&S?
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I'm going to join a C.
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Now the midpoint theorem tells
us that the vector peak you
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must be equal to 1/2 of
the vector AC.
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Because these two points P&Q,
they are the midpoints of two
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sides of a triangle, and so
this line must be equal to 1/2
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of this line in length. The
half the third side an
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parallel to it. Similarly,
because of the midpoint
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theorem, this vector Sr.
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Most also be equal to 1/2 of a
C because again as and are the
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midpoints of two sides of a
triangle, and so the line joins
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them as our must be half the
length of the third side and
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parallel to it, so Sr equals 1/2
of AC because of our midpoint
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theorem. So therefore PQ mostly
equal to Sr as vectors.
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Any statement about vectors
immediately tells us two things.
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It tells us a statement about
the magnitudes, so this tells us
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that the length of PQ is equal
to the length of Sr and about
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direction. So it tells us that
PQ is power off to Sr.
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So here we have a 4 sided
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figure. And we know that one
pair of opposite sides are equal
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in length and are parallel.
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And that's exactly the property
of a parallelogram. So therefore
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PQRS is a.
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Parallel oh gram
parallelogram.
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Let's look at just
one more theorem.
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Again, will take two
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points A&B. And their
position vectors will be a bar
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and B bar with respect to an
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origin. Oh. Will join them.
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And what we're going to be
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looking at? Is a point P.
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On a bee that divides AB
in the ratio MNM parts to
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end parts, and the question that
we want to ask is what's
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the position vector of opie?
What is R bar the position
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vector of OP?
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Well, let's begin by writing
down how we might travel from O
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to pee. Or in order to
go from oh to P, we might
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go from Oh 2A and then from
A to pee. So that would be
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OA plus AP.
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OK, is fine. That's a bar. What
about AP? One of the things that
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we can see is that AP is in the
direction of a B.
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Not only is it in the direction
of a B, but it's M parts of
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a B out of N plus N parts,
and so AP.
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Is M parts out of
M plus N parts of
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a bee?
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Treating these as vectors, and
so we can now ask ourselves what
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is AB bar?
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And to go from A to B, we
can go a oh plus oh be, that
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would be a O plus OB.
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And we can write that down. Oh,
to be is be bar.
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And a 20. He's going against the
direction of the arrow, so that
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is minus a bar.
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And now we can put these three
statements together this one.
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Replacing AP bar by this and
replacing AB bar in here by
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this so that we end up with
everything in terms of a bar
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and be bar.
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So if we write these three
results out again.
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OPOA plus
AP.
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And we saw a pee was
M parts out of M plus
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N parts of a bar and
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we all. So soul that AB
bar was be bar minus a
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bar.
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And now what we want to do is to
put these three things
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altogether. So oh P will be
equal to OA is just a bar.
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Plus and instead of a pea,
we're going to take this
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and instead of the eh bee,
we're going to take this
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so Opie Bar is a bar plus.
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M over N plus N.
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Times B bar
minus a bar.
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We can put all this together
over a common denominator so we
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have a bar times N plus N plus M
Times B bar minus a bar.
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All over N plus N.
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And now we need to look at these
brackets. I've got a bar times
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by M. And I've got M times by
minus a bar, so those two are
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going to take each other out.
They're going to cancel each
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other out, and so I'm going to
be left with a bar times by N&M
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times by B Bar.
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And so the result I have
is NA bar plus MB bar
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all over N plus N.
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Now that doesn't look
particularly startling, but it
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does give us a way of
calculating what the position
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vector of P is when we know the
ratio in which it divides a
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baby. Let's just remember what
the diagram was.
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We had our two points A&B refer
to an origin. Oh and we had the
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point P on the line AB.
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We were calculating the position
vector when P divided AB in
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the ratio M to N.
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And so imagine that M was one.
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And N was one as well. Then this
would say that P was the
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midpoint, 'cause we've divided
in the ratio one to one equal
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parts. This would say that the
position vector of the midpoint
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was a plus B all over 2 sounds
are perfectly reasonable answer
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if M was two and N was one. In
other words, P came 2/3 of the
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way along this line. Then this
would say that this was a bar
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plus. To be bar all over
three. So we've got that. A
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way of calculating what the
position vector is of this
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point P when it divides AB
in the ratio M tool N.