document.write( "Question 1163684: For any two numbers a and b, the product of a−b times itself is equal to a2 −2ab+b2. Does this familiar algebraic result hold for dot products of a vector u − v with itself? In otherwords,is it true that (u−v)•(u−v)=u•u−2u•v+v•v? Justify your conclusion, trying not to express vectors u and v in component form. \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #787851 by jim_thompson5910(35256) ![]() You can put this solution on YOUR website! \n" ); document.write( "Let w = u-v \n" ); document.write( "The symbol • will be used for the dot product even though it looks like a multiplication symbol\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "(u-v) • (u-v) = w • (u-v) after replacing the first (u-v) with w.\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "The dot product is similar to multiplication, in that we can distribute over addition like so \n" ); document.write( "w • (u-v) = w • u - w • v\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "note: subtraction is effectively addition with negative numbers, eg: 6 - 7 = 6 + (-7). The same applies with vectors as well\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "From here, we plug in w = u-v and apply another round of distribution \n" ); document.write( "w • u - w • v \n" ); document.write( "(u-v) • u - (u-v) • v \n" ); document.write( "u • u - v • u - u • v + v • v \n" ); document.write( "u • u - u • v - u • v + v • v \n" ); document.write( "u • u - 2u • v + v • v\r \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Ultimately, this shows that (u-v) • (u-v) expands out to u • u - 2u • v + v • v \n" ); document.write( " \n" ); document.write( " |