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Question 45 of 51

Q.Show that (a⃗+b⃗).{(b⃗+c⃗)×(c⃗+a⃗)} = 2a⃗(b⃗+c⃗).

West Bengal WbchseWest Bengal HS (WBCHSE) Board 2024Subjective· 4mImportance★★★★★
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Expand the cross product first (most terms vanish because a vector crossed with itself is zero), then expand the dot product and use the cyclic property of the scalar triple product.

(Note: the printed right-hand side "2a⃗(b⃗+c⃗)2\vec a(\vec b+\vec c)" is not a well-formed vector expression, since a scalar triple product cannot equal a vector — this is standard notation loss in scanning/OCR of the original identity. The well-known board identity being tested here is (a⃗+b⃗)⋅{(b⃗+c⃗)×(c⃗+a⃗)}=2 a⃗⋅(b⃗×c⃗)(\vec a+\vec b)\cdot\{(\vec b+\vec c)\times(\vec c+\vec a)\} = 2\,\vec a\cdot(\vec b\times\vec c), which is proved below.)

First expand the cross product:

(b⃗+c⃗)×(c⃗+a⃗)=b⃗×c⃗+b⃗×a⃗+c⃗×c⃗+c⃗×a⃗(\vec b+\vec c)\times(\vec c+\vec a) = \vec b\times\vec c + \vec b\times\vec a + \vec c\times\vec c + \vec c\times\vec a

Since c⃗×c⃗=0⃗\vec c\times\vec c=\vec 0, and b⃗×a⃗=−a⃗×b⃗\vec b\times\vec a = -\vec a\times\vec b:

=b⃗×c⃗−a⃗×b⃗+c⃗×a⃗= \vec b\times\vec c - \vec a\times\vec b + \vec c\times\vec a

Now dot with (a⃗+b⃗)(\vec a+\vec b):

(a⃗+b⃗)⋅[b⃗×c⃗−a⃗×b⃗+c⃗×a⃗](\vec a+\vec b)\cdot\big[\vec b\times\vec c - \vec a\times\vec b + \vec c\times\vec a\big]

Expand into six scalar triple products:

=a⃗⋅(b⃗×c⃗)−a⃗⋅(a⃗×b⃗)+a⃗⋅(c⃗×a⃗)+b⃗⋅(b⃗×c⃗)−b⃗⋅(a⃗×b⃗)+b⃗⋅(c⃗×a⃗)= \vec a\cdot(\vec b\times\vec c) - \vec a\cdot(\vec a\times\vec b) + \vec a\cdot(\vec c\times\vec a) + \vec b\cdot(\vec b\times\vec c) - \vec b\cdot(\vec a\times\vec b) + \vec b\cdot(\vec c\times\vec a)

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