Question
For any two vectors $\vec{\text{a}}$ and $\vec{\text{b}},$ find $\big(\vec{\text{a}}\times\vec{\text{b}}\big).\vec{\text{b}}.$

Answer

Let:$\vec{\text{a}}=\text{a}_1\hat{\text{i}}+\text{a}_2\hat{\text{j}}+\text{a}_3\hat{\text{k}}$
$\vec{\text{b}}=\text{b}_1\hat{\text{i}}+\text{b}_2\hat{\text{j}}+\text{b}_3\hat{\text{k}}$
$\vec{\text{a}}\times\vec{\text{b}}=\begin{vmatrix}\hat{\text{i}}&\hat{\text{j}}&\hat{\text{k}}\\\text{a}_1&\text{a}_2&\text{a}_3\\\text{b}_1&\text{b}_2&\text{b}_3\end{vmatrix}$
$=\hat{\text{i}}(\text{a}_2\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_2)-\hat{\text{j}}(\text{a}_1\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_1)+\hat{\text{k}}(\text{a}_1\text{b}_2-\text{a}_2\text{b}_1)$
$\big(\vec{\text{a}}\times\vec{\text{b}}\big).\vec{\text{b}}$
$=\big[\hat{\text{i}}(\text{a}_2\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_2)-\hat{\text{j}}(\text{a}_1\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_1)+\hat{\text{k}}(\text{a}_1\text{b}_2-\text{a}_2\text{b}_1)\big]\\.\big(\text{b}_1\hat{\text{i}}+\text{b}_2\hat{\text{j}}+\text{b}_3\hat{\text{k}}\big)$
$=\text{a}_2\text{b}_1\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_1\text{b}_2-\text{a}_1\text{b}_2\text{b}_3+\text{a}_3\text{b}_1\text{b}_2+\text{a}_1\text{b}_2\text{b}_3-\text{a}_2\text{b}_1\text{b}_3$
$=\text{b}_1(\text{a}_2\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_2)-\text{b}_2(\text{a}_1\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_1)+\text{b}_3(\text{a}_1\text{b}_2-\text{a}_2\text{b}_1)$
$=\text{a}_2\text{b}_1\text{b}_3-\text{a}_3\text{b}_1\text{b}_2-\text{a}_1\text{b}_2\text{b}_3+\text{a}_3\text{b}_1\text{b}_2+\text{a}_1\text{b}_2\text{b}_3-\text{a}_2\text{b}_1\text{b}_3$
$=0$

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