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The cross product with respect to a right-handed coordinate system. In mathematics, the cross product or vector product (occasionally directed area product, to emphasize its geometric significance) is a binary operation on two vectors in a three-dimensional oriented Euclidean vector space (named here ), and is denoted by the symbol .
In mathematics and physics, the right-hand rule is a convention and a mnemonic, utilized to define the orientation of axes in three-dimensional space and to determine the direction of the cross product of two vectors, as well as to establish the direction of the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.
Vector algebra relations — regarding operations on individual vectors such as dot product, cross product, etc. Vector calculus identities — regarding operations on vector fields such as divergence, gradient, curl, etc.
In mathematics and computer programming, the order of operations is a collection of rules that reflect conventions about which operations to perform first in order to evaluate a given mathematical expression. These rules are formalized with a ranking of the operations.
The following are important identities in vector algebra.Identities that only involve the magnitude of a vector ‖ ‖ and the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors A·B, apply to vectors in any dimension, while identities that use the cross product (vector product) A×B only apply in three dimensions, since the cross product is only defined there.
In algebraic notation, widely used in mathematics, a multiplication symbol is usually omitted wherever it would not cause confusion: "a multiplied by b" can be written as ab or a b. [1] Other symbols can also be used to denote multiplication, often to reduce confusion between the multiplication sign × and the common variable x.
The cross product is left- and right-distributive over vector addition, though not commutative. The union of sets is distributive over intersection, and intersection is distributive over union. Logical disjunction ("or") is distributive over logical conjunction ("and"), and vice versa.
The picture on the Cross product page shows vector a as the index finger, b as the middle finger, and a cross b as the thumb. The picture on this page defines a and b differently. I believe the picture on the Cross product is more correct, and at least it seems that the two should agree with each other.