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MA28-10 Maths Coming soon

Vector arithmetic: addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication

MA28-10

This lesson is coming soon.

In this lesson

Add, subtract and multiply column vectors by a scalar, and calculate the magnitude of a vector using Pythagoras.

What it covers

  • Distinguishing column-vector notation (two numbers stacked in brackets) from fraction notation before any arithmetic
  • Adding and subtracting column vectors component by component
  • Multiplying a column vector by a scalar (both components)
  • Using the OA-arrow / bold-letter (a, b) naming convention for a vector
  • Calculating the magnitude of a vector using Pythagoras: |a| = sqrt(x^2+y^2)

Key words

For: AQA GCSE 8300, Edexcel GCSE 1MA1, Eduqas GCSE C300, OCR GCSE J560, Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1, Cambridge IGCSE 0580

On the specification

BoardSpecStatement
AQA GCSE 8300G25Apply addition and subtraction of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a scalar, and diagrammatic and column representations of vectors
Edexcel GCSE 1MA1G25Apply addition and subtraction of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a scalar, and diagrammatic and column representations of vectors
Eduqas GCSE C300FG21Apply addition and subtraction of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a scalar, and diagrammatic and column representations of vectors
Eduqas GCSE C300HG25Apply addition and subtraction of vectors, multiplication of vectors by a scalar, and diagrammatic and column representations of vectors; use vectors to construct geometric arguments and proofs
OCR GCSE J5609.03aUnderstand addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication of vectors.
OCR GCSE J5609.03bRepresent a 2-dimensional vector as a column vector, and draw column vectors on a square or coordinate grid.
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H5.1CMultiply vectors by scalar quantities
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H5.1DAdd and subtract vectors
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H5.1ECalculate the modulus (magnitude) of a vector
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H5.1AUnderstand that a vector has both magnitude and direction
Edexcel IGCSE 4MA1H5.1BUnderstand and use vector notation including column vectors
Cambridge IGCSE 0580C7.2Extended content only.
Cambridge IGCSE 0580E7.2Describe a translation using a vector represented by (x y), AB or a.
Cambridge IGCSE 0580C7.3Extended content only.
Cambridge IGCSE 0580E7.3Calculate the magnitude of a vector (x y) as √(x² + y²).
For teachers

This GCSE Maths lesson teaches vector arithmetic: addition, subtraction and scalar multiplication. By the end, students should be able to add, subtract and multiply column vectors by a scalar, and calculate the magnitude of a vector using Pythagoras. It works through three worked examples and the mistakes examiners report.