Cross Product — Area, perpendicular vector
Vectors
12
JEE Qs
8%
Hard
60
min
Master both the algebraic (determinant form) and geometric (area, perpendicularity, right-hand rule) interpretations of the cross product for diverse problem-solving.
🧮 Key Formulas
✅ Key Points for JEE
- 1The cross product a x b results in a vector perpendicular to *both* a and b, whose direction is given by the right-hand thumb rule.
- 2The magnitude |a x b| geometrically represents the area of the parallelogram formed by vectors a and b as adjacent sides.
- 3Cross product is anti-commutative (a x b = - (b x a)) and distributive over vector addition (a x (b + c) = a x b + a x c).
- 4If two non-zero vectors a and b are parallel or collinear, their cross product a x b = 0, which is a useful test for collinearity.
- 5To find a vector perpendicular to a plane containing three points A, B, C, first form two vectors using these points (e.g., AB_vector and AC_vector), then calculate their cross product.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
- ✕Incorrectly applying the right-hand rule to determine the direction of the cross product vector.
- ✕Making sign errors or calculation mistakes when expanding the determinant form of the cross product.
- ✕Forgetting the factor of (1/2) when calculating the area of a triangle, or using the formula for parallelogram area instead.
- ✕Confusing the properties and results of the cross product (vector result) with the dot product (scalar result).
📝 Practice Questions
See allQ10.Let →a and →b be two unit vectors such that the angle between them is . If λ→a + 2→b and 3→a −λ→b are 3 perpendicular to each other, then the number of values of λ in [−1, 3] is : (1) 2 (2) 1 (3) 0 (4) 3 e 1 x x loge α
Q10.Let the arc AC of a circle subtend a right angle at the centre O. If the point B on the arc AC , divides the arc −−−length of arc AB 1 → → → AC such that length of arc BC = 5 , and OC = αOA + βOB , then α + √2(√3 −1)β is equal to (1) 2√3 (2) 2 −√3 (3) 5√3 (4) 2 + √3 f ∘g is
Q23.Let →c be the projection vector of →b = λ^i + 4^k, λ > 0, on the vector →a = ^i + 2^j + 2^k. If |→a + →c| = 7, then the area of the parallelogram formed by the vectors →b and →c is ________
Q4. Let a line pass through two distinct points P(−2, −1, 3) and Q , and be parallel to the vector 3^i + 2^j + 2^k. If the distance of the point Q from the point R(1, 3, 3) is 5 , then the square of the area of △PQR is equal to : (1) 148 (2) 136 (3) 144 (4) 140
Q12.Let →a = 3^i −^j + 2^k, b =→a× (^i −2^k) and→c= b × ^k. Then the projection of→c−2^j on →a is : (1) 2√14 (2) √14 (3) 3√7 (4) 2√7
Q48.Two particles are located at equal distance from origin. The position vectors of those are represented by ¯A = 2^i + 3n^j + 2^k and ¯B = 2^i −2^j + 4p^k, respectively. If both the vectors are at right angle to each other, the value of n−1 is _____ .
NCERT Chapters
- Class 12 Mathematics Ch 10: Vector Algebra