I have a 3D vector with length != 1 but all components lie within [-1, 1]. now I want to create a unit vector such that this unit vector has the same x coordinate as the original vector and the cross product between the x-axis and the new vector shall point in the same direction as the cross product between the x-axis and the original vector. How do I need to scale the y and z coordinates to achieve this?

Maia Pace

Maia Pace

Answered question

2022-08-11

I have a 3D vector with length != 1 but all components lie within [-1, 1].
now I want to create a unit vector such that this unit vector has the same x coordinate as the original vector and the cross product between the x-axis and the new vector shall point in the same direction as the cross product between the x-axis and the original vector.
How do I need to scale the y and z coordinates to achieve this?

Answer & Explanation

Janiah Hoffman

Janiah Hoffman

Beginner2022-08-12Added 12 answers

Let see, suppose the original vector is
v = ( a , b , c )
and the unit vector is
u = ( a , d , e )
such that
u × ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) = λ v × ( 1 , 0 , 0 ) e y ^ d z ^ = λ c y ^ λ b z ^
that is
u = ( a , λ b , λ c )
with the condition
a 2 + ( λ b ) 2 + ( λ c ) 2 = 1 λ = 1 a 2 b 2 + c 2

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