Vector formulation
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(by definition of dot product)
If you think of the length of the 3 vectors |A|,|B| and |B-A| as the lengths of the sides of a triangle, you can apply the law of cosines here too (To visualize this, draw the 2 vectors A and B onto a graph, now the vector from A to B will be given by B-A. The triangle formed by these 3 vectors is applied to the law of cosines for a triangle)
In this case, we substitute: |B-A| for c, |A| for a, |B| for b
and we obtain: - (by law of cosines)
Remember now, that Theta is the angle between the 2 vectors A, B.
Notice the common term |A||B|cos(Theta) in both equations. We now equate equation (1) and (2), and obtain
and hence
(by pythagorean length of a vector) and thus