Calculus: Early Transcendentals 8th Edition

Published by Cengage Learning
ISBN 10: 1285741552
ISBN 13: 978-1-28574-155-0

Chapter 12 - Section 12.3 - The Dot Product - 12.3 Exercises - Page 814: 60

Answer

The diagonals are perpendicular.

Work Step by Step

The diagonals can be represented as: $(a+b)$ and $(a-b)$. $(a+b) \cdot (a-b)= (a \cdot a)- (b \cdot b)$ $(a \cdot a)- (b \cdot b)=|a|^2-|b|^2$ A vector dotted with itself is its length squared, and as we know that the side lengths are equal to each other, so $|a|^2-|b|^2=0$ As the dot product of diagonals is $0$, the diagonals are perpendicular.
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