16.21 Techniques of Structural Analysis and
Design
Spring 2003
Unit #2 - Mathematical aside: Vectors,
indicial notation and summation convention
Indicial notation
In 16.21 we’ll work in a an euclidean three-dimensional space R
3
.
Free index: A subscript index ()
i
will be denoted a free index if it is
not repeated in the same additive term where the index appears. Free means
that the index represents all the values in its range.
? Latin indices will range from 1 to, (i,j,k,... = 1, 2, 3),
? greek indices will range from 1 to 2, (α,β,γ,... = 1, 2).
Examples:
1. a
i1
implies a
11
,a
21
,a
31
. (one free index)
2. x
α
y
β
implies x
1
y
1
,x
1
y
2
,x
2
y
1
,x
2
y
2
(two free indices).
3. a
ij
implies a
11
,a
12
,a
13
,a
21
,a
22
,a
23
,a
31
,a
32
,a
33
(two free indices implies
9 values).
4.
?σ
ij
+ b
i
= 0
?x
j
1
?
has a free index (i), therefore it represents three equations:
?σ
1j
+ b
1
= 0
?x
j
?σ
2j
+ b
2
= 0
?x
j
?σ
3j
+ b
3
= 0
?x
j
Summation convention: When a repeated index is found in an expression
(inside an additive term) the summation of the terms ranging all the possible
values of the indices is implied, i.e.:
3
a
i
b
i
= a
i
b
i
= a
1
b
1
+ a
2
b
2
+ a
3
b
3
i=1
Note that the choice of index is immaterial:
a
i
b
i
= a
k
b
k
Examples:
1. a
ii
= a
11
+ a
22
+ a
33
2. t
i
= σ
ij
n
j
implies the three equations (why?):
t
1
= σ
11
n
1
+ σ
12
n
2
+ σ
13
n
3
t
2
= σ
21
n
1
+ σ
22
n
2
+ σ
23
n
3
t
3
= σ
31
n
1
+ σ
32
n
2
+ σ
33
n
3
Other important rules about indicial notation:
1. An index cannot appear more than twice in a single additive term, it’s
either free or repeated only once.
a
i
= b
ij
c
j
d
j
is INCORRECT
2. In an equation the lhs and rhs, as well as all the terms on both sides
must have the same free indices
? a
i
b
k
= c
ij
d
kj
free indices i,k, CORRECT
? a
i
b
k
= c
ij
d
kj
+ e
i
f
jj
+ g
k
p
i
q
r
INCORRECT, second term is missing
free index k and third term has extra free index r
2
?
Vectors
A basis in R
3
is given by any set of linearly independent vectors e
i
, (e
1
, e
2
, e
3
).
From now on, we will assume that these basis vectors are orthonormal, i.e.,
they have a unit length and they are orthogonal with respect to each other.
This can be expressed using dot products:
e
1
.e
1
= 1, e
2
.e
2
= 1, e
3
.e
3
= 1,
e
1
.e
2
= 0, e
1
.e
3
= 0, e
2
.e
3
= 0,...
Using indicial notation we can write these expression in very succinct form
as follows:
e
i
.e
j
= δ
ij
In the last expression the symbol δ
ij
is de?ned as the Kronecker delta:
δ
ij
=
1 if i = j,
0 if i ?= j
Example:
a
i
δ
ij
=a
1
δ
11
+ a
2
δ
21
+ a
3
δ
31
,
a
1
δ
12
+ a
2
δ
22
+ a
3
δ
32
,
a
1
δ
13
+ a
2
δ
23
+ a
3
δ
33
=a
1
1 + a
2
0 + a
3
0,
a
1
0 + a
2
1 + a
3
0,
a
1
0 + a
2
0 + a
3
=a
1
,
a
2
,
a
3
or more succinctly: a
i
δ
ij
= a
j
, i.e., the Kronecker delta can be thought of
an “index replacer”.
A vector v will be represented as:
v = v
i
e
i
= v
1
e
1
+ v
2
e
2
+ v
3
e
3
3
The v
i
are the components of v in the basis e
i
. These components are the
projections of the vector on the basis vectors:
v = v
j
e
j
Taking the dot product with basis vector e
i
:
v.e
i
= v
j
(e
j
.e
i
) = v
j
δ
ji
= v
i
Transformation of basis
Given two bases e
i
, ?e
k
and a vector v whose components in each of these
bases are v
i
and v?
k
, respectively, we seek to express the components in basis
in terms of the components in the other basis. Since the vector is unique:
v = ? ?v
m
e
m
= v
n
e
n
Taking the dot product with ?e
i
:
e
i
= v?
m
(? e
i
) = v
n
(e
n
.?v.? e
m
.? e
i
)
But v?
m
(? e
i
) = v?
m
δ
mi
= v?
i
from which we obtain:e
m
.?
v?
i
= v.? e
i
)e
i
= v
j
(e
j
.?
Note that (e
j
.?e
i
) are the direction cosines of the basis vectors of one basis
on the other basis:
e
j
.? e
i
? cos
?
e
i
= ?e
j
??? e
j
?e
i
4