Re: Non-calculus vector math
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg75737] Re: Non-calculus vector math
- From: Szabolcs <szhorvat at gmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 9 May 2007 04:40:13 -0400 (EDT)
- References: <f1pht0$iou$1@smc.vnet.net>
On May 8, 12:03 pm, "David Rees" <w3bdevilREM... at THISw3bdevil.com>
wrote:
> Ahoy,
>
> How can I perform elementary vector math in Mathematica? From what I've
> found, it's all Vector Calculus, but what about trivial/elementary vector
> math?
>
> Things like: "Particle A with position unit-vector of (3i+6j-1k) and
> velocity vector (1i-4j+5k)ms^-1 collides with Particle B 35 seconds after
> moving off from its initial position, where did it collide?"
>
> Thanks
In[1]:=
i={1,0,0};j={0,1,0};k={0,0,1};
In[2]:=
r0=3i+6j-k
v=i-4j+5k
Out[2]=
{3,6,-1}
Out[3]=
{1,-4,5}
In[4]:=
r0+35v
Out[4]=
{38,-134,174}
You don't need to assign to i, j, k but then things like dot products
and cross products are more difficult to do (you need to define your
own functions for them instead of using the builtins).