HP (Hewlett-Packard) hp 49g+ Calculator User Manual


 
Page 8-8
Cross product
Function CROSS (option 3 in the MTH/VECTOR menu) is used to calculate the
cross product of two 2-D vectors, of two 3-D vectors, or of one 2-D and one 3-
D vector. For the purpose of calculating a cross product, a 2-D vector of the
form [A
x
, A
y
], is treated as the 3-D vector [A
x
, A
y
,0]. Examples in ALG mode
are shown next for two 2-D and two 3-D vectors. Notice that the cross
product of two 2-D vectors will produce a vector in the z-direction only, i.e., a
vector of the form [0, 0, C
z
]:
Examples of cross products of one 3-D vector with one 2-D vector, or vice
versa, are presented next:
Attempts to calculate a cross product of vectors of length other than 2 or 3,
produce an error message:
Reference
Additional information on operations with vectors, including applications in
the physical sciences, is presented in Chapter 9 of the calculator’s User’s
Guide.