Definition:Dot Product
Definition
Let $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ be vectors in a vector space $\mathbf V$ of $n$ dimensions:
\(\ds \mathbf a\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sum_{k \mathop = 1}^n a_k \mathbf e_k\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \mathbf b\) | \(=\) | \(\ds \sum_{k \mathop = 1}^n b_k \mathbf e_k\) |
where $\tuple {\mathbf e_1, \mathbf e_2, \ldots, \mathbf e_n}$ is the standard ordered basis of $\mathbf V$.
General Context
The dot product of $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ is defined as:
\(\ds \mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b\) | \(:=\) | \(\ds \sum_{k \mathop = 1}^n a_k b_k\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds a_1 b_1 + a_2 b_2 + \cdots + a_n b_n = \sum_{i \mathop = 1}^n a_i b_i\) |
If the vectors are represented as column matrices:
- $\mathbf a = \begin {bmatrix} a_1 \\ a_2 \\ \vdots \\ a_n \end {bmatrix} , \mathbf b = \begin {bmatrix} b_1 \\ b_2 \\ \vdots \\ b_n \end {bmatrix}$
we can express the dot product as:
- $\mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b = \mathbf a^\intercal \mathbf b$
where:
- $\mathbf a^\intercal = \begin {bmatrix} a_1 & a_2 & \cdots & a_n \end {bmatrix}$ is the transpose of $\mathbf a$
- the operation between the matrices is the matrix product.
Real Euclidean Space
In the context of a real Euclidean space $\R^n$, the definition can be geometrical in nature:
Let $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ be vectors in real Euclidean space $\R^n$.
The dot product of $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ is defined as:
- $\mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b = \norm {\mathbf a} \, \norm {\mathbf b} \cos \angle \mathbf a, \mathbf b$
where:
- $\norm {\mathbf a}$ denotes the length of $\mathbf a$
- $\angle \mathbf a, \mathbf b$ is the angle between $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$, taken to be between $0$ and $\pi$.
Complex Numbers
The definition continues to hold when the vector space under consideration is the complex plane:
Let $z_1 := x_1 + i y_1$ and $z_2 := x_2 + i y_2$ be complex numbers.
Definition 1
The dot product of $z_1$ and $z_2$ is defined as:
- $z_1 \circ z_2 = x_1 x_2 + y_1 y_2$
Definition 2
The dot product of $z_1$ and $z_2$ is defined as:
- $z_1 \circ z_2 = \cmod {z_1} \, \cmod{z_2} \cos \theta$
where:
- $\cmod {z_1}$ denotes the complex modulus of $z_1$
- $\theta$ denotes the angle between $z_1$ and $z_2$.
Definition 3
The dot product of $z_1$ and $z_2$ is defined as:
- $z_1 \circ z_2 := \map \Re {\overline {z_1} z_2}$
where:
- $\map \Re z$ denotes the real part of a complex number $z$
- $\overline {z_1}$ denotes the complex conjugate of $z_1$
- $\overline {z_1} z_2$ denotes complex multiplication.
Definition 4
The dot product of $z_1$ and $z_2$ is defined as:
- $z_1 \circ z_2 := \dfrac {\overline {z_1} z_2 + z_1 \overline {z_2} } 2$
where:
- $\overline {z_1}$ denotes the complex conjugate of $z_1$
- $\overline {z_1} z_2$ denotes complex multiplication.
Einstein Summation Convention
Let $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ be vector quantities.
The dot product of $\mathbf a$ and $\mathbf b$ can be expressed using the Einstein summation convention as:
\(\ds \mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b\) | \(:=\) | \(\ds a_i b_j \delta_{i j}\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds a_i b_i\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \) | \(=\) | \(\ds a_j b_j\) |
where $\delta_{i j}$ is the Kronecker delta.
Also known as
The dot product is also known as:
- The scalar product (but this can be confused with multiplication by a scalar so is less recommended)
- The standard inner product.
Some sources refer to it as just the inner product, but this is a more general term of which the dot product is merely an example.
The symbol used for the dot is variously presented; another version is $\mathbf a \bullet \mathbf b$, which can be preferred if there is ambiguity between the dot product and standard multiplication.
In the complex plane, where it is commonplace to use $\cdot$ to denote complex multiplication, the symbol $\circ$ is often used to denote the dot product.
Examples
Arbitrary Example 1
Let:
\(\ds \mathbf A\) | \(=\) | \(\ds 6 \mathbf i + 4 \mathbf j + 3 \mathbf k\) | ||||||||||||
\(\ds \mathbf B\) | \(=\) | \(\ds 2 \mathbf i - 3 \mathbf j - 3 \mathbf k\) |
Then:
- $\mathbf A \cdot \mathbf B = -9$
Hence the angle between $\mathbf A$ and $\mathbf B$ is approximately $104.2 \degrees$.
Work Done
Let $\mathbf F$ represent a force acting on a body $B$.
Let $\mathbf d$ denote the displacement effected on $B$ by $\mathbf F$.
Then the work done by $\mathbf F$ on $B$ is given by:
- $W = \mathbf F \cdot \mathbf d = \norm {\mathbf F} \norm {\mathbf d} \cos \theta$
where:
- $\cdot$ denotes dot product
- $\theta$ is the angle between the directions of $\mathbf F$ and $\mathbf d$.
Also see
- Results about dot product can be found here.
Historical Note
During the course of development of vector analysis, various notations for the dot product were introduced, as follows:
Symbol | Used by |
---|---|
$\mathbf a \cdot \mathbf b$ | Josiah Willard Gibbs and Edwin Bidwell Wilson |
$\mathbf a \mathbf b$ | Oliver Heaviside |
$\mathscr A \mathscr B$ | Max Abraham |
$\mathfrak A \mathfrak B$ | Vladimir Sergeyevitch Ignatowski |
$\paren {\mathbf A \cdot \mathbf B}$ | Hendrik Antoon Lorentz |
$\mathbf a \times \mathbf b$ | Cesare Burali-Forti and Roberto Marcolongo |
Sources
- 1964: D.E. Rutherford: Classical Mechanics (3rd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): Introduction
- 1965: Michael Spivak: Calculus on Manifolds ... (previous) ... (next): 1. Functions on Euclidean Space: Norm and Inner Product
- 1989: Ephraim J. Borowski and Jonathan M. Borwein: Dictionary of Mathematics ... (previous) ... (next): dot product
- 1992: George F. Simmons: Calculus Gems ... (previous) ... (next): Chapter $\text {B}.26$: Extensions of the Complex Number System. Algebras, Quaternions, and Lagrange's Four Squares Theorem
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): dot product
- 1998: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): scalar product
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): dot product
- 2008: David Nelson: The Penguin Dictionary of Mathematics (4th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): scalar product
- 2014: Christopher Clapham and James Nicholson: The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Mathematics (5th ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): dot product
- 2018: John M. Lee: Introduction to Riemannian Manifolds (2nd ed.) ... (previous) ... (next): $\S 2$: Riemannian Metrics. Definitions