Intro to Vectors I Vectors A Vector a

Intro to Vectors I. Vectors. A) Vector = a segment that has both length and direction. 1) Symbol = AB or a bold lower case letter v. 2) Draw a ray on the coordinate plane for a vector. B) In vector AB, A is the initial pt. and B is the terminal pt. 1) It starts at point A and stops at point B. C) Magnitude = the length of the vector. (Symbol = ) 1) It’s the distance formula. Use the initial & terminal pts. 2) Symbol =

Intro to Vectors II. Vectors can be … A) Same direction vectors (or parallel vectors). 1) Vectors with the same direction (think parallel lines). B) Equal vectors. 1) Vectors that have the same slope and magnitude. C) Opposite vectors. 1) Vectors that have the same magnitude but go in opposite directions. D) Vectors can represent distances traveled (2 miles North) or forces acting upon an object (canoe paddled at 5 mph across a river with a current of 7 mph).

Intro to Vectors III. Component Form of a Vector. A) Standard position = a vector whose initial point is at (0 , 0). 1) It is represented by its terminal point (x , y) using the symbol v = or B) Magnitude = or simply C) Any vector can be put into standard position by … 1) Shifting it: Move the initial point to the origin (0 , 0) but keep its same magnitude & direction & you will get its terminal point. 2) Or by doing math: AB = =v a) Subtraction order is important (terminal – initial)

Intro to Vectors IV. Resultants. A) Resultant = the sum of two or more vectors. 1) Symbol = r B) Finding resultants. 1) Tip to tail method: put the starting point of the 2 nd vector at the terminal point of the 1 st vector. a) Also known as the parallelogram method because the resultant is the diagonal of the parallelogram formed from the 2 vectors. 2) Or shift the vectors to the origin (component form). a) v + u = (xv + xu , yv + yu) = b) Also called Vector Addition (or sum of vectors).