- $2\vec{\text{a}}^2$
Solution:
Let $\vec{\text{a}}^2=\text{x}\hat{\text{i}}+\text{y}\hat{\text{j}}+\text{z}\hat{\text{k}}$
$\therefore\vec{\text{a}}^2=\text{x}^2+\text{y}^2+\text{z}^2$
$\therefore\ \vec{\text{a}}\times\vec{\text{i}}\begin{vmatrix}\hat{\text{i}}&\hat{\text{j}}&\hat{\text{k}} \\\text{x}&\text{y}&\text{z}\\1&0&0 \end{vmatrix}$
$=\hat{\text{i}}[0]-\hat{\text{j}}[-\text{z}]+\hat{\text{k}}[-\text{y}]$
$=\text{z}\hat{\text{j}}-\text{y}\hat{\text{k}}$
$\therefore\ (\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{i}})=(\text{z}\hat{\text{j}}-\text{y}\hat{\text{k}})(\text{z}\hat{\text{j}}-\text{y}\hat{\text{k}})$
$=\text{y}^2+\text{z}^2$
Similarly, $(\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{j}})^2=\text{x}^2+\text{z}^2$
And $(\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{k}})^2=\text{x}^2+\text{y}^2$
$\therefore\ (\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{i}})^2+(\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{j}})^2+(\vec{\text{a}}\times\hat{\text{k}})^2$ $=\text{y}^2+\text{z}^2+\text{x}^2+\text{z}^2+\text{x}^2+\text{y}^2$
$2(\text{x}^2+\text{y}^2+\text{z}^2)=2\vec{\text{a}}^2$