What is the dot product of #<3,-7,6 ># and #<4,1,7 >#?

1 Answer
Jan 28, 2016

The dot product of two vectors, also called the 'scalar product' is a single number, in this case #47#.

Explanation:

To find the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors #[a_1, a_2, a_3, ..., a_n]# and #[b_1, b_2, b_3, ..., b_n]#, we simply multiply the corresponding elements and add all the products:

#a_1b_1 + a_2b_2 + a_3b_3 + .... + a_nb_n#

In this case, the dot product is:

#3*4+(-7)*1+6*7 = 12 - 7 + 42 = 47#