Point dividing Line Segment between Two Points in Given Ratio

Theorem
Let $A$ and $B$ be points whose position vectors relative to an origin $O$ of a Euclidean space are $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$.

Let $\mathbf r$ be the position vector of a point $R$ on $AB$ which divides $AB$ in the ratio $m : n$.


 * Point-dividing-Line-Segment.png

Then:
 * $\mathbf r = \dfrac {n \mathbf a + m \mathbf b} {m + n}$

Proof
We have that:
 * $\vec {A B} = \mathbf b - \mathbf a$

and so:


 * $\vec {A R} = \dfrac m {m + n} \paren {\mathbf b - \mathbf a}$

Hence the position vector $\mathbf r$ of $R$ is given by: