Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    Vector Analysis
    Vector Analysis
    Vector Analysis
    Ebook512 pages4 hours

    Vector Analysis

    By Louis Brand

    4/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    The use of vectors not only simplifies treatments of differential geometry, mechanics, hydrodynamics, and electrodynamics, but also makes mathematical and physical concepts more tangible and easy to grasp. This text for undergraduates was designed as a short introductory course to give students the tools of vector algebra and calculus, as well as a brief glimpse into these subjects' manifold applications. The applications are developed to the extent that the uses of the potential function, both scalar and vector, are fully illustrated. Moreover, the basic postulates of vector analysis are brought to the foreground, placing their logical structure in sharp relief.
    Because the concept of a vector has been greatly generalized in geometry and mathematical physics, this text concludes with a brief introduction to abstract vector spaces, together with the ideas of linear dependence, basis, and dimension. The exposition of these abstract concepts is kept simple and clear. Numerous figures appear throughout the text.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherDover Publications
    Release dateJun 22, 2012
    ISBN9780486154848
    Vector Analysis

    Related to Vector Analysis

    Titles in the series (100)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Mathematics For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Math After COVID-19

      Apr 28, 2020

      Math After COVID-19
      4 min read

    • Article

      The Math That Takes Newton Into the Quantum World

      Feb 28, 2019

      In my 50s, too old to become a real expert, I have finally fallen in love with algebraic geometry. As the name suggests, this is the study of geometry using algebra. Around 1637, René Descartes laid the groundwork for this subject by taking a plane,

      9 min read

    • Article

      The Scientific Problem That Must Be Experienced: To understand turbulence we need the intuitive perspective of art.

      Jul 3, 2014

      When the German physicist Arnold Sommerfeld assigned his most brilliant student a subject for his doctoral thesis in 1923, he admitted that “I would not have proposed a topic of this difficulty to any of my other pupils.” Those others included such g

      16 min read

    • Article

      A Universe Made of Tiny, Random Chunks: The space-time that makes up our universe is inherently uncertain.

      Jun 6, 2013

      One of science’s most crucial yet underappreciated achievements is the description of the physical universe using mathematics—in particular, using continuous, smooth mathematical functions, like how a sine wave describes both light and sound. This is

      6 min read

    • Article

      Math’s Beautiful Monsters

      Oct 26, 2017

      Much like its creator, Karl Weierstrass’ monster came from nowhere. After four years at university spent drinking and fencing, Weierstrass had left empty handed. He eventually took a teaching course and spent most of the 1850s as a schoolteacher in B

      10 min read

    • Article

      Math’s Beautiful Monsters: How a destructive idea paved the way for modern math.

      Apr 3, 2014

      Much like its creator, Karl Weierstrass’ monster came from nowhere. After four years at university spent drinking and fencing, Weierstrass had left empty handed. He eventually took a teaching course and spent most of the 1850s as a schoolteacher in B

      10 min read

    • Article

      The Universe Began With a Big Melt, Not a Big Bang

      Oct 5, 2017

      There are two tantalizing mysteries about our universe, one dealing with its final fate and the other with its beginning, that have intrigued cosmologists for decades. The community has always believed these to be independent problems—but what if the

      10 min read

    • Article

      Blossom Theory

      Dec 2, 2020

      Blossom Theory
      6 min read

    • Article

      What This Drawing Taught Me About Four-Dimensional Spacetime

      Mar 16, 2017

      My aim as a theoretical physicist is to unite quantum theory with Einstein’s Theory of General Relativity. While there are a few proposals for this unification, such as string theory and loop quantum gravity, many roadblocks to a complete unification

      8 min read

    • Article

      What Is Cfd

      Jun 21, 2022

      What Is Cfd
      3 min read

    • Article

      Will Quantum Mechanics Swallow Relativity?

      Jun 8, 2017

      It is the biggest of problems, it is the smallest of problems. At present physicists have two separate rulebooks explaining how nature works. There is general relativity, which beautifully accounts for gravity and all of the things it dominates: orbi

      17 min read

    • Article

      Will Quantum Mechanics Swallow Relativity?: The contest between gravity and quantum physics takes a new turn.

      Oct 29, 2015

      It is the biggest of problems, it is the smallest of problems. At present physicists have two separate rulebooks explaining how nature works. There is general relativity, which beautifully accounts for gravity and all of the things it dominates: orbi

      17 min read

    • Article

      Babbage And Running His Many Engines

      Nov 16, 2021

      Mike Bedford Like most of us, Mike tended to think of the likes of Alan Turing and John von Neumann as the pioneers of computing, so delving further into Charles Babbage’s creations was truly inspiring. Discussion about the first ever computer often

      11 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for Vector Analysis

    4/5

    2 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      Vector Analysis - Louis Brand

      VECTOR

      ANALYSIS

      LOUIS BRAND

      DOVER PUBLICATIONS, INC.

      Mineola, New York

      Bibliographical Note

      This Dover edition, first published in 2006, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., New York, in 1957.

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Brand, Louis, 1885–

      Vector analysis / Louis Brand.

      p. cm.

      Originally published: New York : Wiley, 1957.

      Includes index.

      eISBN 13: 978-0-486-15484-8

      1. Vector analysis. I. Title.

      QC20.7.V4B73 2006

      515'.63—dc22

      2005049527

      Manufactured in the United States of America

      Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, N.Y. 11501

      I dedicate this book to my former teacher and dean,

      HERMAN SCHNEIDER

      in tribute to the originator of cooperative education at its fiftieth anniversary, 1906–1956:

      "JOINING THEORY AND PRACTICE

      LINKING EDUCATION AND INDUSTRY

      THROUGH KNOWLEDGE AND EXPERIENCE."

      (Inscription at west end of the Herman Schneider Quadrangle, University of Cincinnati.)

      Preface

      A vectorial treatment of differential geometry, mechanics, hydrodynamics, and electrodynamics is now practically standard procedure. The use of vectors not only simplifies and condenses the exposition but also makes mathematical and physical concepts more tangible and easy to grasp. The day is not far distant when vector algebra will be introduced in analytic geometry, thus giving the student the double advantage of an early introduction to the subject and a welcome relief from a multiplicity of formulas to be memorized. The dot and cross product of Gibbs, so intimately involved in all questions of perpendicularity and parallelism, enable one to write the equations of lines and planes at will and to solve all distance problems in the most natural manner. Even the simple distributive law, λ (u + v) = λu + λv, gives one the power to use the properties of similar triangles without figures and virtually in the dark. And then that tremendous step from two to three dimensions—which usually occurs so late in the course that the student misses it altogether—need never be taken at all. For we start in three dimensions, the world we actually live in, and this on the fine axiom of J. Willard Gibbs: The whole is simpler than its parts.

      Vector analysis has also breached the walls of the calculus and now puts in an appearance in every modern textbook in that subject. The gradient, divergence, and rotation, in their capacity of invariants, form the natural language of spatial science. Avoidance of them is futile, and using long scalar notations every time they occur is wasteful of time and effort. I believe that the introduction of divergence and rotation from the beginning as invariants of a dyadic (the gradient of a vector) is not only the proper procedure but is actually the simplest in the long run. Although it requires a slight knowledge of dyadics, or tensors of valence two, the time is well spent; for the world is full of important tensors that the earnest student might just as well encounter head on. In this book the use of dyadics is held to a drastic minimum; and hence rigid dynamics (with its inertia dyadic) and the theory of elasticity (with its stress and strain tensors) have been regretfully omitted. Besides, this book was designed as a short course to give a beginning student the tools of vector algebra and calculus and a brief glimpse beyond into their manifold applications. Thus the equation for the angular rate of change of a radial unit vector is actually the key to the eccentricities of gyroscopic behavior. But in this book we have stopped short of gyroscopes as being beyond its proper scope. After all, a short book in vector analysis cannot pretend to be in addition a treatise on mathematical physics. But the applications have been developed to that extent so that the uses of the potential function, both scalar and vector, are fully illustrated. Moreover the basic postulates of the sciences dealt with have been brought to the foreground to put their logical structure in sharp relief.

      Since the concept of a vector has been greatly generalized in geometry and mathematical physics, the final chapter gives a brief introduction to abstract vector spaces, together with the ideas of linear dependence, basis, and dimension. As this chapter is necessarily abstract, an especial effort was made to keep the exposition as simple and clear as possible.

      In my more comprehensive book on Vector and Tensor Analysis, I quoted the eloquent words of Bertrand Russell on mathematics as a science and as an art. They deserve to be quoted again:

      The true spirit of delight, the exaltation, the sense of being more than man, which is the touchstone of the highest excellence, is to be found in mathematics as surely as in poetry. What is best in mathematics deserves not merely to be learned as a task, but also to be assimilated as a part of daily thought, and brought again and again before the mind with ever-renewed encouragement. Real life is, to most men, a long second-best, a perpetual compromise between the real and the possible; but the world of pure reason knows no compromise, no practical limitations, no barrier to the creative activity embodying in splendid edifices the passionate aspiration after the perfect from which all great work springs.

      As very full cross references are given in this book, an article as well as a page number is given at the top of each page. Equations are numbered serially (1), (2), ··· in each article. A reference to an equation in another article is made by giving article and number to the left and right of a point; thus (8.3) means equation (3) of § 8. Figures are given the number of the article in which they appear followed by a, b, c, ···; thus Fig. 2c is the third figure of § 2. In footnotes, references to my books, Vectorial Mechanics, Vector and Tensor Analysis, Advanced Calculus,* are simply made by title.

      Bold-face type is used in the text to denote vectors or dyadics. The magnitude of a vector v is denoted by |v| or, on occasion, by υ. A displacement (or arrow vector) from A to B . Superimposed arrows may also be used to denote vectors in manuscript.

      Finally, I wish to express my grateful appreciation for the contribution of the Taft fund toward typing the manuscript, and to extend thanks to my colleagues Professors Jaeger and Restemeyer for their advice and suggestions. I am also indebted to Mrs. Anne Hagedorn for her efficient and painstaking help in the preparation of the manuscript.

      LOUIS BRAND

      University of Cincinnati

      January 1957

      *Note: A reprint edition of Louis Brand’s Advanced Calculus [0-486-44548-8] is available from Dover Publications, Inc.

      Contents

      Chapter 1.  VECTOR ALGEBRA

      1.  Vectors

      2.  Addition of Vectors

      3.  Subtraction of Vectors

      4.  Multiplication of Vectors by Numbers

      5.  Point of Division

      6.  Linear Relations Independent of the Origin

      7.  Centroid

      8.  Rectangular Components

      9.  Products of Two Vectors

      10.  Scalar Product

      11.  Vector Product

      12.  Vector Triple Product

      13.  Scalar Triple Product

      14.  Products of Four Vectors

      15.  Reciprocal Bases

      16.  General Bases

      17.  Equations of Line and Plane

      18.  Summary of Vector Algebra

      Chapter 2.  LINE VECTORS

      19.  Moment of a Line Vector

      20.  Addition of Line Vectors

      21.  Couples

      22.  Coplanar Line Vectors

      23.  Statics

      Chapter 3.  VECTOR FUNCTIONS OF ONE VARIABLE

      24.  Derivative of a Vector

      25.  Derivatives of Sums and Products

      26.  Curves

      27.  Tangent Vector

      28.  Unit Tangent Vector

      29.  Frenet’s Formulas

      30.  Curvature and Torsion

      31.  Plane Curves

      32.  Kinematics of a Particle

      33.  Relative Velocity

      34.  Angular Velocity Vector

      35.  Kinematics of a Rigid Body

      Chapter 4.  DIFFERENTIAL INVARIANTS

      36.  Surfaces

      37.  Directional Derivative

      38.  Gradient of a Vector

      39.  Invariants of a Dyadic

      40.  Divergence and Rotation

      41.  Product Formulas

      42.  Curvilinear Coordinates

      Chapter 5.  INTEGRAL THEOREMS

      43.  Line Integrals

      44.  Line Integrals Independent of the Path

      45.  Irrotational Vectors

      46.  Simply Connected Regions

      47.  Green’s Theorem in the Plane

      48.  Vector Forms of Green’s Theorem

      49.  Surface Integrals

      50.  Stokes’ Theorem

      51.  Generalized Stokes’ Theorem

      52.  Divergence Theorem

      53.  Generalized Divergence Theorem

      54.  Solenoidal Vectors

      55.  Green’s Identities

      56.  Harmonic Functions

      57.  Retrospect

      Chapter 6.  DYNAMICS

      58.  Dynamics of a Particle

      59.  Equations of Motion

      60.  Work and Energy

      61.  The Solar System

      62.  Systems of Particles

      63.  Body Revolving about a Fixed Axis

      Chapter 7.  FLUID MECHANICS

      64.  Perfect Fluids

      65.  Equation of Continuity

      66.  Euler’s Equation

      67.  Fluid in Equilibrium

      68.  Vorticity

      69.  Circulation Theorem

      70.  Irrotational Motion

      71.  Steady Motion

      72.  Plane Motion

      73.  Fluid Mechanics

      Chapter 8.  ELECTRODYNAMICS

      74.  Maxwell’s Equations

      75.  Integral Form of Maxwell’s Equations

      76.  Ohm’s Law

      77.  Units and Dimensions

      78.  Wave Equation

      79.  Coulomb’s Law

      80.  Poynting’s Vector

      81.  Potentials

      82.  Electrostatics

      83.  Conductors

      84.  Capacitance

      85.  Magnetostatics

      86.  Magnetostatic Potential

      87.  Forces on Charges and Currents

      Chapter 9.  VECTOR SPACES

      88.  Postulates

      89.  Linear Dependence

      90.  Subspaces

      91.  Bases and Dimension

      92.  Ordered Sets

      93.  Inner Product

      94.  Euclidean Vector Space

      95.  Gram–Schmidt Process

      96.  Reciprocal Bases

      97.  Hilbert Space

      98.  Linear Equations

      APPENDIX

      Quantities, Dimensions, and Units

      Supplementary Problems

      Answers to Problems

      Index

      Science and the applications of science are united together as the tree and its fruit.

      PASTEUR

      VECTOR

      ANALYSIS

      Chapter 1

      Vector Algebra

      1. Vectors. A vector is a directed line segment. A vector from the point A to the point B has the length AB and the direction from A to B. Besides proper vectors, which have a definite length and direction, we shall introduce the zero vector which has zero length but no definite direction.

      A scalar is a number whose value is the same in all systems of reference. Thus the length of a vector is a scalar; but the direction cosines of a vector are not scalars as their values depend on the choice of coordinate axes.

      In addition to the foregoing notation, in which we specify a vector by giving its end points, we shall also use single letters in boldface type (as u, v, w) to denote vectors. The zero vector is then written 0 in bold type. The length of the vector u u 0 = 0. A vector of length 1 is called a unit vector. In manuscript, a vector may be denoted by a single letter with an arrow above it.

      We shall now construct an algebra of vectors by defining equality, addition, and multiplication of vectors by real numbers or scalars.

      Two vectors are said to be equal when they have the same length and directionby a parallel displacement or translation. The initial point of u may be chosen at pleasure, say Pin the same sense. In Fig. 2b for example, the vectors forming the opposite sides of a parallelogram are equal and may be represented by the same letter; thus

      Vectors that conform to the above definition of equality are said to be free. But in some applications other definitions are advisable. Thus the forces acting on a rigid body may be regarded as vectors which are restricted to lie on a given line, their line of action. Such force vectors are not free; for they may only be shifted along a fixed line since other translations alter their dynamic effect. We shall call a vector confined to a definite line of action a line vector. Two line vectors are equal when and only when they have the same length and the same direction and lie on the same line.

      Vectors that have a fixed position in space are called bound vectors. Thus the forces acting on a deformable body may be regarded as bound vectors, for any translation of such a force alters its effect on the body. Two bound vectors are equal when they have the same length, direction, and position in space.

      In this chapter all vectors are regarded as free; and we begin our vector algebra by defining the addition of free vectors and their multiplication by numbers.

      2. Addition of Vectors. A rectilinear displacement, or translation, from A to B . If a particle is given two displacements, one from A to B, and a second from B to C, the result is the same as if the particle were given a single displacement from A to C. This suggests the relation

      We shall regard this equation as the definition of vector addition; thus the sum of two vectors u, v, (Fig. 2a) is defined by the

      TRIANGLE CONSTRUCTION. Draw v from the end of u; then the vector directed from the beginning of u to the end of v is the sum of u and v and is written u + v.

      Fig. 2a. Triangle construction.

      Since any side of a triangle is less than the sum of the other two sides,

      the equal sign holding only when u and v have the same direction.

      Vector addition is commutative:

      This is apparent from Fig. 2b; for

      Vector addition is associative:

      Fig. 2b. Commutative law.

      Fig. 2c. Associative law

      This is apparent from Fig. 2c; for

      Since both sums in (4) are the same, they are simply written u + v + w.

      From the commutative and associative laws we readily deduce the following

      THEOREM. The sum of any number of vectors is independent of the order in which they are added and of their grouping to form partial sums.

      To construct the sum of any number of vectors, form a broken line whose directed segments represent those vectors taken in any order whatever; then the vector directed from the beginning to the end of the broken line will be the required sum. If A, B, C, ···, G, H are the successive vertices of the broken line (Fig. 2d), then

      Fig. 2d. Vector sum.

      If in constructing a vector sum the end point of the last vector coincides with the origin of the first, we say that the sum of the vectors is zero. Thus, if H coincides with A in (5), we write

      , we have

      3. Subtraction of Vectors. The sum of two vectors is zero when and only when they have the same length and opposite directions:

      in order that the characteristic equation for negatives

      will hold for vectors as well as for numbers. Hence by definition:

      The negative of a vector is a vector of the same length but opposite direction.

      Note also that − (−u) = u holds for vectors as well as for numbers.

      The difference u − v of two vectors is defined by the equation

      On adding − v to both sides, and using (1), we have

      subtracting a vector is the same as adding its negative. The construction of u − v satisfying (2) is shown in Fig. 3a.

      Fig. 3a. Vector subtraction.

      Fig. 3b. Difference of position vectors.

      With respect to an origin O any point P in space is determined by its position vector may be expressed as the difference of position vectors to its end points (Fig. 3b.): thus

      and, from (3),

      4. Multiplication of Vectors by Numbers. The vector u + u is naturally denoted by 2u; similarly, we write − u + (−u) = − 2u. Thus 2u and − 2u denote vectors twice as long as u; 2u has the same direction as u, − 2u the opposite direction. This notation is generalized as follows:

      The product of a vector u by a number λ (written λu or uλ) is defined as a vector λ times as long as u and having the same direction as u, or the opposite, according as λ is positive or negative.

      In accordance with this definition

      and

      Moreover since the corresponding sides of similar triangles are proportional,

      This is clear from Fig. 4a, in which α > 0. The distributive law (3) is a potent tool in obtaining geometric information by algebraic means.

      The developments thus far show that:

      As far as addition, subtraction, and multiplication by numbers are concerned, vectors obey the laws of ordinary algebra.

      Fig. 4a. Distributive law.

      Fig. 4b. Basis in a plane.

      If u and v are parallel vectors, they have the same or opposite directions and v is a numerical multiple of u:

      If u, v, r are coplanar vectors (u and v not parallel), we can write

      For, if we construct a parallelogram on r as diagonal with sides parallel to u and v, we have (Fig. 4b)

      If u, v, w, r are vectors in space (u, v, w not coplanar), we can write

      For, if we construct a parallelepiped on r as diagonal with sides parallel to u, v, w, we have (Fig. 4c)

      Fig. 4c. Basis in space.

      PROBLEMS

      1. , where M is the mid-point of BC.

      2. , where M and N are the mid-points of AC and BD.

      3. are line vectors .

      4. If A, B, C, D are any four points, prove that

      where P and Q are the mid-points of AC and BD.

      5. Point of Division. If A, B, C are points of a straight line, C is said to divide the segment AB in the ratio λ if

      Evidently λ is positive or negative according as C lies within or without the segment AB; to the left of A, λ varies between 0 and −1, to the right of B, λ varies between − ∞ and −1. As C describes the entire line in the sense AB, λ varies as follows:

      Thus λ = 0, λ = ± ∞, λ = −1 when C is at A, at B, or at the infinitely distant point of the line.

      To find the position vector of C relative to an origin O (Fig. 5a), write (1) in the form

      then

      Fig. 5a. Point of division.

      We shall denote the position vectors of A, B, C by a, b, c; then, if λ = β/α, (2) becomes

      This equation states that C divides AB in the ratio β/α. Thus the midpoint of AB (α = β .

      From (3) we now deduce

      THEOREM 1. Three distinct points A, B, C will lie on a line when and only when there exist three nonzero numbers α, β, γ, such that

      Proof. If A, B, C are collinear, C divides AB in some ratio β/α which is not 0, ∞, or −1; hence α, β and α + β are not zero. Thus (3) holds good; and on putting γ = − (α + β) we obtain (4). Conversely, equations (4) give (3) on dividing

      hence C lies on the line AB.

      The symmetrical relations (4) disclose how each point divides the segment formed by the other two. Thus (4) states that A, B, C divide BC, CA, AB, respectively, in the ratios γ/β α/γ, β/α, whose product is 1.

      THEOREM 2. Four points A, B, C, D, no three of which are collinear, will lie in a plane when and only when there exist four nonzero numbers α, β, γ, δ, such that

      Proof. If A, B, C, D are coplanar, either AB is parallel to CD, or AB cuts CD in a point P (not A, B, C, or D). In the respective cases, we have

      where λ, λ′ are neither 0 nor −1. In both cases a, b, c, d are connected by a linear relation of the form (5).

      Conversely let us assume that equations (5) hold good. If α + β = 0 (and hence γ + δ = 0), we have

      and the lines AB and CD are parallel. If α + β 0 (and hence γ + δ 0),

      where P is a point common to the

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1