AE 211: Mathematics for Aerospace Engineers

August 2016
Exercise on indicial notations & tensors

Handout #1

1. Expand the following wherever possible:

(a) Aij Bi
(b) Aii Bi
(c) Aii Bkk
(d) Aijk Bik
2. Show the following using indicial notations:
(a) rs irs = 0
(b) ijk ijm = 2km
(c) a (b c) = (a c)b (a b)c
3. Evaluate the following expressions:
(a) ij ( Aij A ji )
(b) ip jq a p b j cq
(c) (ij + Aij )(ij Aij )
4. Show that the determinant of matrix A can be computed as
det[ A] =

1
( A A A + 2Aij A jk Aki 3Aij A ji Akk ).
6 ii jj kk

5. If I is the 3 3 identity matrix and { A} T =

1, show that det[ I 2 { A} { A} T ] = 1.

a1 a2 a3

, where a21 + a22 + a23 =

6. The coordinate system Xi is derived from Xi by rotating an amount about the

X1 axis.
(a) Determine the entries of the rotation matrix Rij .
(b) Evaluate: R211 + R212 + R213 .
7. Show that trT, trT2 , trT3 are invariants of the tensor T. (Hint: Invariant means
independent of the coordinate system at which components are specified.)