Editing Dot product (section)

== Physics ==
In [[physics]], the dot product takes two vectors and returns a [[scalar (mathematics)|scalar]] quantity. It is also known as the "scalar product". The dot product of two vectors can be defined as the product of the magnitudes of the two vectors and the cosine of the angle between the two vectors. Thus, <math display=block>\mathbf{a} \cdot \mathbf{b} = |\mathbf{a}| \, |\mathbf{b}| \cos \theta</math>  Alternatively, it is defined as the product of the projection of the first vector onto the second vector and the magnitude of the second vector.

For example:<ref name="Riley2010">{{cite book |author1=K.F. Riley |author2=M.P. Hobson | author3=S.J. Bence |title= Mathematical methods for physics and engineering|url=https://archive.org/details/mathematicalmeth00rile |url-access=registration |edition= 3rd|year= 2010|publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn=978-0-521-86153-3}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |author1=M. Mansfield |author2=C. O'Sullivan |title= Understanding Physics | edition= 4th |year= 2011|publisher= John Wiley & Sons|isbn=978-0-47-0746370}}</ref>
* [[Mechanical work]] is the dot product of [[force]] and [[Displacement (vector)|displacement]] vectors,
* [[Power (physics)|Power]] is the dot product of [[force]] and [[velocity]].