Home›Calculus 3›Triple products and volumes›Problem 9.325

Triple products and volumes

Problem 9.325 · medium

Find a unit vector orthogonal to both \( \displaystyle \mathbf u = \left\langle -4, -3, 0 \right\rangle \) and \( \displaystyle \mathbf v = \left\langle 4, 0, -2 \right\rangle \).

\[ \left[\begin{matrix}6\\-8\\12\end{matrix}\right] \]
u × v is orthogonal to both.✓ Proved
\[ \left[\begin{matrix}\frac{3 \sqrt{61}}{61}\\- \frac{4 \sqrt{61}}{61}\\\frac{6 \sqrt{61}}{61}\end{matrix}\right] \]
Divide by its length.✓ Proved

Answer \( \left\langle \frac{3 \sqrt{61}}{61}, - \frac{4 \sqrt{61}}{61}, \frac{6 \sqrt{61}}{61} \right\rangle\ (\text{or its negative}) \)

Every line of this solution was proved by the computer algebra system SymPy. The answer was also checked a second way, without looking at the solution. The reviewers disagree about how one step is explained; every verdict is in the receipt.

The full receipt

Line	Status	Checked by	Detail
1	✓ Proved	sympy 1.14.0	simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
2	✓ Proved	sympy 1.14.0	simplify(lhs - rhs) reduced to 0
answer, a second way	✓ Checked independently	sympy 1.14.0 + mpmath 1.3.0	length 1 and zero dot product with u and v

Reviewers

gpt-oss:20b: pass
qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass — The solution correctly computes the cross product to find an orthogonal vector and normalizes it to obtain a unit vector. The steps are logically sound and the final answer matches the stated answer.

Every verdict on record (4)

gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-07
qwen3.6:27b-mlx: pass 2026-10-07 — The solution correctly computes the cross product to find an orthogonal vector and normalizes it to obtain a unit vector. The steps are logically sound and the final answer matches the stated answer.
qwen3.6:27b-mlx: fail (error) 2026-10-07 — The cross product calculation is incorrect; the actual cross product of < -4, -3, 0 > and < 4, 0, -2 > is < 6, -8, -12 >, not < 6, -8, 12 >. The z-component sign is wrong.
gpt-oss:20b: pass 2026-10-07

Proved: SymPy reduced the difference between the two sides to zero. Checked independently: a separate method, named above, confirmed it. Checked numerically: the two sides agree at every sampled point, which is evidence, not proof. Reviewed: a model or a person read it; that is all a sentence can have. Solution by generator:structured/triple_product, checked 2026-10-07 with SymPy 1.14.0.