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Dot product

A scalar measure of

vector similarity,

defined in a vector space \(\mathbb{R}^m\) with an orthonormal basis:

  • algebraically,

    in terms of the matrix multiplication, and so the linear combination, as

    \begin{equation*} \vec{u} \cdot \vec{v} = \vec{u}^\mathsf{T} \vec{v} = \sum_{i = 1}^{m} u_i v_ i, \end{equation*}
  • geometrically,

    in terms of the vector length, as

    \begin{equation*} \vec{u} \cdot \vec{v} = \|\vec{u}\| \|\vec{v}\| \cos \theta, \end{equation*}

    where \(\theta\) is the angle between \(\vec{u}\) and \(\vec{v}\).



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