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Inner product spaces
Lesson 9 of 10
Standard practice

Orthogonal projection

Objective. Project one vector onto another.

  1. 1. Learn
  2. 2. Worked example
  3. 3. Practice
  4. 4. Feedback
  5. 5. Continue

Learn: the key idea

proj_u(v) = ((v · u)/(u · u)) u. The leftover v − proj_u(v) is orthogonal to u.

Worked example

Project v = (3, 4) onto u = (1, 0).

Project v = (3
Illustrated card showing Project v = (3
  1. 1v · u = 3 and u · u = 1.
  2. 2Scalar is 3.
  3. 33 × (1, 0) = (3, 0).

Answer: (3, 0)

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Common mistake. Dividing by |u| once rather than by u · u.

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