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Question 157 of 162

Q.If a⃗,b⃗,c⃗\vec{a}, \vec{b}, \vec{c} are three vectors, prove that [a⃗+c⃗, a⃗+b⃗, a⃗+b⃗+c⃗]=[a⃗, b⃗, c⃗]\left[\vec{a}+\vec{c},\ \vec{a}+\vec{b},\ \vec{a}+\vec{b}+\vec{c}\right]=\left[\vec{a},\ \vec{b},\ \vec{c}\right]

Tamil Nadu DgeTamil Nadu HSC (DGE) Board 2025Subjective· 3mImportance★★★★★
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Uses that the scalar triple product [u⃗,v⃗,w⃗][\vec u,\vec v,\vec w] is linear in each slot and vanishes whenever two slots repeat a vector, to expand the left side into surviving terms, then uses the cyclic and swap-sign properties to collapse them to [a⃗,b⃗,c⃗][\vec a,\vec b,\vec c].

  1. Key facts about the scalar triple product [u⃗,v⃗,w⃗]=u⃗⋅(v⃗×w⃗)[\vec u,\vec v,\vec w]=\vec u\cdot(\vec v\times\vec w):
    1. it is linear (additive) in each of its three slots;
    2. it is 00 whenever any two of the three vectors are equal;
    3. cyclic permutation leaves it unchanged: [a⃗,b⃗,c⃗]=[b⃗,c⃗,a⃗]=[c⃗,a⃗,b⃗][\vec a,\vec b,\vec c]=[\vec b,\vec c,\vec a]=[\vec c,\vec a,\vec b];
    4. swapping any two slots reverses its sign, e.g. [c⃗,b⃗,a⃗]=−[a⃗,b⃗,c⃗][\vec c,\vec b,\vec a]=-[\vec a,\vec b,\vec c].
  2. Expand [a⃗+c⃗, a⃗+b⃗, a⃗+b⃗+c⃗][\vec a+\vec c,\ \vec a+\vec b,\ \vec a+\vec b+\vec c] by distributing each slot (first slot: a⃗\vec a or c⃗\vec c; second: a⃗\vec a or b⃗\vec b; third: a⃗,b⃗\vec a,\vec b or c⃗\vec c) using linearity.
  3. Discard every resulting term with a repeated vector in two slots (these are 00 by fact (ii)): the surviving terms are exactly [a⃗,b⃗,c⃗][\vec a,\vec b,\vec c] (from a⃗,b⃗,c⃗\vec a,\vec b,\vec c), [c⃗,a⃗,b⃗][\vec c,\vec a,\vec b] (from c⃗,a⃗,b⃗\vec c,\vec a,\vec b) and [c⃗,b⃗,a⃗][\vec c,\vec b,\vec a] (from c⃗,b⃗,a⃗\vec c,\vec b,\vec a). …

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