With respect to an origin , the points and have position vectors and respectively where and are non-parallel. It is given that lies on the line segment such that .
- (a)
Find the value of . Hence find in terms of and .
- (b)
is a point on line segment where . The line segment meets line segment at point . Given that , deduce the value of .
- (c)
By using your result in part (b), find the ratio when .
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Worked solution
5(a)
1. Express $\overrightarrow{AB}$ and use collinearity to relate it to $\overrightarrow{BC}$.
Since lies on the line segment , the points , , and are collinear. Thus, is a scalar multiple of :
2. Compare coefficients of the non-parallel vectors $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$ to find $\mu$.
Since and are non-parallel, we can equate their respective coefficients:
For :
For :
Therefore, .
3. Find $\overrightarrow{OC}$ in terms of $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$.
Using vector addition:
Substitute into :
,
5(b)
1. State $\overrightarrow{OQ}$ in terms of $\mathbf{a}$, $\mathbf{b}$ and $t$ using the result from part (a).
From part (a), we have .
Given ,
2. Apply the ratio theorem to find an expression for $\overrightarrow{OP}$.
Since divides the line segment in the ratio , by the ratio theorem:
3. Express $\overrightarrow{OP}$ in terms of $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$.
4. Use the collinearity of $O, P, B$ to set the coefficient of $\mathbf{a}$ to zero and solve for $\lambda t$.
Since lies on the line segment , the points , , and are collinear. Thus, must be a scalar multiple of .
Because and are non-parallel, the coefficient of in must be .
5(c)
1. Use the result from part (b) and the given value of $\lambda$ to express $\overrightarrow{OP}$ in terms of $\mathbf{b}$.
From part (b), applying the Ratio Theorem gave .
Since lies on , the component evaluates to zero, leaving:
We also deduced that .
Given , we substitute these values into the expression for :
2. Interpret the vector equation geometrically to find the required ratio of lengths.
The equation implies that .
This means that the length is of the total length .
Consequently, the length is of .
The ratio of the lengths is therefore:
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