Commutative Matrices Associated with Vector Rotations

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Rotations of vectors in three dimensions are, in general, not commutative. The one exception occurs when the two rotations occur in the same plane. In such cases, the commutative law for multiplication, , is valid.
Contributed by: D. Meliga, A. Ratti and S. Z. Lavagnino (June 2019)
Additional contribution by: L. Lavagnino
Open content licensed under CC BY-NC-SA
Details
Snapshot 1: The box on the right shows a rotation of following a rotation of
, while the box on the left shows an initial rotation of
and then a
rotation. Since the rotations are in the same plane, the final result is the same.
Snapshot 2: The box on the right shows a rotation of following a rotation of
, while the box on the left shows an initial rotation of
and then a
rotation. Again, the final result is the same.
Snapshot 3: The rotation is written in matrix form; in this case, the matrix multiplication is commutative.
Reference
[1] D. J. Griffiths, Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005.
Snapshots
Permanent Citation