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mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...
, vector multiplication may refer to one of several operations between two (or more) vectors. It may concern any of the following articles: *
Dot product In mathematics, the dot product or scalar productThe term ''scalar product'' means literally "product with a Scalar (mathematics), scalar as a result". It is also used for other symmetric bilinear forms, for example in a pseudo-Euclidean space. N ...
– also known as the "scalar product", a binary operation that takes two vectors and returns a scalar quantity. The dot product of two vectors can be defined as the product of the magnitudes of the two vectors and the cosine of the angle between the two vectors. Alternatively, it is defined as the product of the projection of the first vector onto the second vector and the magnitude of the second vector. Thus, \mathbf \cdot \mathbf = , \mathbf, \, , \mathbf, \cos \theta *
Cross product In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here E), and ...
– also known as the "vector product", a binary operation on two vectors that results in another vector. The cross product of two vectors in 3-space is defined as the vector perpendicular to the plane determined by the two vectors whose magnitude is the product of the magnitudes of the two vectors and the sine of the angle between the two vectors. So, if \mathbf is the unit vector perpendicular to the plane determined by vectors \mathbf and \mathbf, \mathbf \times \mathbf = , \mathbf, \, , \mathbf, \sin \theta \, \mathbf. * Exterior product or wedge product – a binary operation on two vectors that results in a bivector. In Euclidean 3-space, the wedge product \mathbf \wedge \mathbf has the same magnitude as the cross product \mathbf \times \mathbf (the area of the parallelogram formed by sides \mathbf and \mathbf) but generalizes to arbitrary affine spaces and products between more than two vectors. * Tensor product – for two vectors v\in V and w\in W, where V and W are
vector space In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set (mathematics), set whose elements, often called vector (mathematics and physics), ''vectors'', can be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called sc ...
s, their ''tensor product'' v\otimes w belongs to the ''tensor product'' V\otimes W of the vector spaces. * Geometric product or Clifford product – for two vectors, the geometric product \mathbf \mathbf = \mathbf \cdot \mathbf + \mathbf \wedge \mathbf is a mixed quantity consisting of a scalar plus a bivector. The geometric product is well defined for any multivectors as arguments. * A bilinear product in an
algebra over a field In mathematics, an algebra over a field (often simply called an algebra) is a vector space equipped with a bilinear map, bilinear product (mathematics), product. Thus, an algebra is an algebraic structure consisting of a set (mathematics), set to ...
. * A Lie bracket for vectors in a
Lie algebra In mathematics, a Lie algebra (pronounced ) is a vector space \mathfrak g together with an operation called the Lie bracket, an alternating bilinear map \mathfrak g \times \mathfrak g \rightarrow \mathfrak g, that satisfies the Jacobi ident ...
. * Hadamard product – entrywise or elementwise product of tuples of scalar coordinates, where (a \odot b)_i = a_i b_i. * Outer product - where (\mathbf \otimes \mathbf) with \mathbf \in \mathbb^d, \mathbf \in \mathbb^d results in a (d \times d) matrix. * Triple products – products involving three vectors. * Quadruple products – products involving four vectors.


Applications

Vector multiplication has multiple applications in regards to mathematics, but also in other studies such as physics and engineering.


Physics

* The
cross product In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here E), and ...
occurs frequently in the study of
rotation Rotation or rotational/rotary motion is the circular movement of an object around a central line, known as an ''axis of rotation''. A plane figure can rotate in either a clockwise or counterclockwise sense around a perpendicular axis intersect ...
, where it is used to calculate torque and angular momentum. It can also be used to calculate the Lorentz force exerted on a charged particle moving in a magnetic field. * The
dot product In mathematics, the dot product or scalar productThe term ''scalar product'' means literally "product with a Scalar (mathematics), scalar as a result". It is also used for other symmetric bilinear forms, for example in a pseudo-Euclidean space. N ...
is used to determine the work done by a constant force.


See also

* Scalar multiplication * Matrix multiplication * Vector addition * Vector algebra relations {{set index article, mathematics
multiplication Multiplication is one of the four elementary mathematical operations of arithmetic, with the other ones being addition, subtraction, and division (mathematics), division. The result of a multiplication operation is called a ''Product (mathem ...
Multiplication