CHAPTER 2 : VECTORS AND GEOMETRY OF SPACE

1. Given . Find the vectors which have magnitude 6 and parallel to

u.

2. If u, v and w are three nonzero vector such that , show that

3. The position vector p, q and r are given such that

and .
(a) Show that .
(b) If , , and , find the values of x
and y.

4. If and , find by using the property .

5. Given three vectors , and . Find the

value of such that
(a) a is perpendicular to b.
(b) .

6. The vectors a, b and c are such that and , where i, j and

k are unit vectors. Express in terms of i, j and k.

7. Given that and Find the values of a, b and

c.

8. Show that where is an integer to be found.

9. Given that a and b are in the xy-plane, and . Find

10. The points A and B have position vectors and

respectively and O as origin.
(a) The point P divides AB in the ratio Find the position vector of P.

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 (b) The point C lies on AB such that OC is perpendicular to AB. Find the
position vector of C.

11. The quadrilateral OABC follows, , , and P, Q, R, S, T

are the midpoints of OA, AB, BC, CO and CA.

C R
B
T
B Q
S

A
O P
B
(a) Find the position vectors P, Q, R and S in terms of a, b and c.
(b) Show that PQ is parallel to SR and .

12. Assume that A, B and C are three points in three dimensional space where
and .
Given and .
(a) Show that .
(b) Find the equation of the plane that passes through points A, B and C if
the coordinates of point A is .

13. Find the Cartesian equation of the straight line l which passes through the point
and is normal to the plane .
If O is the origin, calculate the acute angle between the straight line l and OA.

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14. The position vectors of points A, B and C are
, ,
where O is the origin and m and n are constants.
(a) Find the values of m and n if
(b) By using the values of m and n in (a), calculate .
(c) Find the vector equation of the plane that passes through the three points.

15. Given two vector and .

(a) Determine the values of q such that a and b has the same magnitude.

(b) If , find the angle between vectors b and .

(c) (i). Find the value of q if .

(ii). Obtain the Cartesian equation of the plane passing through point
and perpendicular to a and b.

16. , and are points in a three-dimensional space.

Find
(a) the vectors and in terms of unit vector i, j and k. Hence, show
that is perpendicular to .
(b) a unit vector perpendicular to the plane containing the points A, B and
C.
(c) a Cartesian equation of the plane described in (b).

17. The position vector of the points P, Q and R are given respectively as
, and .
(a) Show that PQR is a right angle triangle.
(b) Find an equation of the plane containing P, Q and R.
(c) Find parametric equations of the straight line passing through the point
and perpendicular to the plane containing P, Q and R.

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18. The points , and lie on the plane .
The equation of a second plane , is given as .
(a) Find the vectors and .
(b) Determine the Cartesian equation of .
(c) Find the acute angle between and , giving your answer in degrees.

19. Let , and be points in three dimensional

space. Determine:
(a) whether PQ and PR are perpendicular vectors.
(b) an equation of the plane containing P, Q and R.
(c) the parametric equations of the line passing through the point
and perpendicular to the plane in part (b).

20. The points , and lie on the plane . A line L

passes through the points and . Find
(a) and hence, obtain an equation of the plane in Cartesian
form.
(b) the parametric equations of the line L.

21. Given the points , , and .

Find
(a) a vector equation of the line AB.
(b) an equation of the plane ABC in the Cartesian form.
(c) the acute angle between the plane ABC and the plane ABD.

22. The points A, B and C have position vectors of

, ,
where O is the origin. Find
(a) the parametric equation of line AB.
(b) the perpendicular distance of C to the line AB.

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 23. Planes and have equations given by :

and

(a) Show that the point A lies in the plane .

(b) Prove that is perpendicular to the plane .
(c) Find a vector equation of the straight line through A which is
perpendicular to the plane .

24. The points A, B, C and D have position vectors and

respectively. Find
(a) the Cartesian equation of the plane which contains A, B and C.
(b) the equation of the line L which passes through D and is parallel to
.
(c) the distance between the line L and the plane .

25. The line passes through the point A whose position vector is and is
parallel to the vector . The line passes through the point B whose
position vector is and is parallel to the vector .
(a) Write down the parametric equations of the line and .
(b) Show that the line is parallel to line .
(c) Find the perpendicular distance from the line to line .

26. Two forces and with magnitudes 10 kg and 12 kg act on an object at a point as
shown in the Figure 1. Find the resultant force acting at as well as its
magnitude and its direction. (Indicate the direction by finding the angle shown
in the figure.)

Figure 1
27. A block weighing 300 kg is suspended by cables A and B, as shown in Figure
2. Determine the forces that the block exerts along the cables.

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 Figure 2

28. The tension T at each end of the chain has magnitude 25 N. What is the weight
of the chain?

29. If a vector has direction angles and , find the third direction angle .

30. A constant force with vector representation moves an object

along a straight line from the point to the point . Find the work
done if the distance is measured in meters and the magnitude of the force is
measured in newtons.

31. A bicycle pedal is pushed by a foot with a 60-N force as shown in Figure 3. The
shaft of the pedal is 18 cm long. Find the magnitude of the torque about P.

Figure 3

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32. Find the magnitude of the torque about P if a 36 kg force is applied as shown in
Figure 4.

Figure 4

33. A wrench 30 cm long lies along the positive y-axis and grips a bolt at the origin.
A force is applied in the direction at the end of the wrench. Find the
magnitude of the force needed to supply 100 J of torque to the bolt.

34. Find the traces of the given surface in the planes , , .Then
identify the surface and sketch it.
(a) (b)
(c)

35. Reduce the equation to one of the standard forms, classify the surface, and
sketch it.
(a) (b)
(c)

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