Consider three vectors $\vec{a}, \vec{b}, \vec{c}$. Let $|\vec{a}|=2,|\vec{b}|=3$ and $\vec{a}=\vec{b} \times \vec{c}$. If $\alpha \in\left[0, \frac{\pi}{3}\right]$ is the angle between the vectors $\vec{b}$ and $\vec{c}$, then the minimum value of $27|\vec{c}-\vec{a}|^2$ is equal to:
Solution
<p>$$\begin{aligned}
& \vec{a}=\vec{b} \times \vec{c} \\
& |\vec{a}|=2,|\vec{b}|=3
\end{aligned}$$</p>
<p>$\vec{a} \cdot \vec{b}=0$ and $\vec{a} \cdot \vec{c}=0$</p>
<p>$$\begin{aligned}
& |\vec{c}-\vec{a}|^2=|\vec{c}|^2+|\vec{a}|^2-2 \vec{c} \cdot \vec{a} \\
& =4+|\vec{c}|^2
\end{aligned}$$</p>
<p>$$\begin{aligned}
& |\vec{a}|=|\vec{b} \times \vec{c}|=|\vec{b}| \sin \alpha|\vec{c}| \\
& \Rightarrow \sin \alpha|\vec{c}|=\frac{2}{3} \\
& \Rightarrow \sin ^2 \alpha=\frac{4}{9|\vec{c}|^2} \\
& \Rightarrow|\vec{c}|^2=\frac{4}{9 \sin ^2 \alpha} \\
& \Rightarrow|\vec{c}-\vec{a}|^2=4+\frac{4}{9 \sin ^2 \alpha}
\end{aligned}$$</p>
<p>For $|\vec{c}-\vec{a}|^2$ to be minimum for $\alpha \in\left[0, \frac{\pi}{3}\right]$</p>
<p>$$\begin{gathered}
\sin \alpha=\frac{\sqrt{3}}{2} \\
27|\vec{c}-\vec{a}|^2=27\left[4+\frac{4.4}{9.3}\right] \\
=27\left[\frac{124}{27}\right]=124
\end{gathered}$$</p>
About this question
Subject: Mathematics · Chapter: Vector Algebra · Topic: Types of Vectors
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