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Q.Define vector product. Explain the properties of a vector product with two examples.

Andhra Pradesh BieapBIEAP Intermediate Board (1st Year) 2026Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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The vector product of two vectors is a new vector, perpendicular to both, whose magnitude is |A||B|sinθ; it is anticommutative and used to define torque and angular momentum.

Definition: The vector product (cross product) of two vectors A and B is defined as:

A x B = |A| |B| sinθ n̂

where θ is the angle between A and B, and n̂ is a unit vector perpendicular to the plane containing A and B, its direction given by the right-hand rule (curl the fingers of the right hand from A to B; the thumb points along n̂).

Properties:

  1. Anticommutative: A x B = −(B x A) — reversing the order reverses the direction of the resultant vector.
  2. Not associative in general, and the cross product of a vector with itself is zero: A x A = 0 (since θ = 0, sinθ = 0).
  3. Distributive over addition: A x (B + C) = A x B + A x C.
  4. Its magnitude equals the area of the parallelogram formed by A and B as adjacent sides.

Examples: …

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