向量叉乘三重积性质和拉格朗日公式的证明

三重积性质

$$\mathbf{a}\times \left(\mathbf{b}\times \mathbf{c}\right)=\mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)-\mathbf{c}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right).$$
$$\left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\times \mathbf{c}=\mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)-\mathbf{a}\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right).$$

向量的拉格朗日公式

$$\left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\cdot \left(\mathbf{c}\times \mathbf{d}\right)=\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{d}\right)-\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{d}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right).$$

证明

1. 向量点乘和叉乘的矩阵乘法表达形式
     统一使用列向量方式 $\mathbf{a}=\left(\begin{array}{c}{a}_x\\ a_y\\ a_z\end{array}\right)$ 表示，那么易知 $\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}={\mathbf{a}}^{\top }\mathbf{b}$。规定 ${\mathbf{a}}_{\times }\equiv \left[\begin{array}{ccc}0& -a_z& a_y\\ a_z& 0& -a_x\\ -a_y& a_x& 0\end{array}\right]$，那么直接按照定义很容易推得 $\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}={\mathbf{a}}_{\times }\mathbf{b}$。
2. 向量三重积性质的证明
   $$\begin{array}{rl}& \mathbf{a}\times \left(\mathbf{b}\times \mathbf{c}\right)+\mathbf{c}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right)\\ =& \left[\begin{array}{ccc}0& -a_z& a_y\\ a_z& 0& -a_x\\ -a_y& a_x& 0\end{array}\right]\left[\begin{array}{ccc}0& -b_z& b_y\\ b_z& 0& -b_x\\ -b_y& b_x& 0\end{array}\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)+\left(a_x{b}_x+a_y{b}_y+a_z{b}_z\right)\left[\begin{array}{ccc}1& 0& 0\\ 0& 1& 0\\ 0& 0& 1\end{array}\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)\\ =& \left[\begin{array}{ccc}-a_y{b}_y-a_z{b}_z& a_y{b}_x& a_z{b}_x\\ a_x{b}_y& -a_z{b}_z-a_x{b}_x& a_z{b}_y\\ a_x{b}_z& a_y{b}_z& -a_x{b}_x-a_y{b}_y\end{array}\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)\\ & +\left[\begin{array}{ccc}{a}_x{b}_x+a_y{b}_y+a_z{b}_z& 0& 0\\ 0& a_x{b}_x+a_y{b}_y+a_z{b}_z& 0\\ 0& 0& a_x{b}_x+a_y{b}_y+a_z{b}_z\end{array}\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)\\ =& \left[\begin{array}{ccc}{a}_x{b}_x& a_y{b}_x& a_z{b}_x\\ a_x{b}_y& a_y{b}_y& a_z{b}_y\\ a_x{b}_z& a_y{b}_z& a_z{b}_z\end{array}\right]\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)\\ =& \left(\begin{array}{c}{b}_x\\ b_y\\ b_z\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{ccc}{a}_x& a_y& a_z\end{array}\right)\left(\begin{array}{c}{c}_x\\ c_y\\ c_z\end{array}\right)\\ =& \mathbf{b}{\mathbf{a}}^{\top }\mathbf{c}\\ =& \mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\end{array}.$$
     从而有
   $$\mathbf{a}\times \left(\mathbf{b}\times \mathbf{c}\right)=\mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)-\mathbf{c}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right).$$
   $$\begin{array}{rl}& \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\times \mathbf{c}\\ =& -\mathbf{c}\times \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\\ =& -\mathbf{a}\left(\mathbf{c}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right)+\mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{c}\cdot \mathbf{a}\right)\\ =& \mathbf{b}\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)-\mathbf{a}\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\end{array}.$$
3. 向量拉格朗日公式的证明
     根据上面第一条三重积性质，和混合积的性质$\mathbf{p}\cdot \left(\mathbf{q}\times \mathbf{r}\right)=\det \left(\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathbf{p}& \mathbf{q}& \mathbf{r}\end{array}\right]\right)=\det \left(\left[\begin{array}{ccc}\mathbf{q}& \mathbf{r}& \mathbf{p}\end{array}\right]\right)=\mathbf{q}\cdot \left(\mathbf{r}\times \mathbf{p}\right)$，有：
   $$\begin{array}{rl}& \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\cdot \left(\mathbf{c}\times \mathbf{d}\right)\\ =& \left(\mathbf{c}\times \mathbf{d}\right)\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\\ =& \mathbf{a}\cdot \left[\mathbf{b}\times \left(\mathbf{c}\times \mathbf{d}\right)\right]\\ =& \mathbf{a}\cdot \left[\mathbf{c}\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{d}\right)-\mathbf{d}\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\right]\\ =& \left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{d}\right)-\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{d}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{c}\right)\end{array}.$$
4. 向量叉积长度的证明。
     由向量的拉格朗日公式有：
   $$\begin{array}{rl}& {\Vert \mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2\\ =& \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)\\ =& \left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{a}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right)-\left(\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}\right)\left(\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{a}\right)\\ =& {\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert }^2{\Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2-{\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert }^2{\Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2{\cos }^2{\theta }_{\mathbf{a}\mathbf{b}}\\ =& {\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert }^2{\Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2{\sin }^2{\theta }_{\mathbf{a}\mathbf{b}}\end{array}.$$
     从而有
   $$\Vert \mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\Vert =\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert \Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert \sin {\theta }_{\mathbf{a}\mathbf{b}}.$$
     其中向量点积的长度可以简单由余弦定理推出：
   $$\begin{array}{rl}& {\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert }^2+{\Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2-2\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}\\ =& \mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{a}+\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{b}-\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}-\mathbf{b}\cdot \mathbf{a}\\ =& \left(\mathbf{a}-\mathbf{b}\right)\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}-\mathbf{b}\right)\\ =& {\Vert \mathbf{a}-\mathbf{b}\Vert }^2\\ =& {\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert }^2+{\Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert }^2-2\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert \Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert \cos {\theta }_{\mathbf{a}\mathbf{b}}\end{array}.$$
     从而有
   $$\mathbf{a}\cdot \mathbf{b}=\Vert \mathbf{a}\Vert \Vert \mathbf{b}\Vert \cos {\theta }_{\mathbf{a}\mathbf{b}}.$$.
     至于向量叉积的方向，由混合积的性质有 $\mathbf{a}\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)=\mathbf{b}\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{a}\right)=0$，$\mathbf{b}\cdot \left(\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}\right)=\mathbf{a}\cdot \left(\mathbf{b}\times \mathbf{b}\right)=0$，知 $\mathbf{a}$ 和 $\mathbf{b}$ 均与 $\mathbf{a}\times \mathbf{b}$ 垂直，再结合 $\left(\begin{array}{c}1\\ 0\\ 0\end{array}\right)\times \left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 1\\ 0\end{array}\right)=\left(\begin{array}{c}0\\ 0\\ 1\end{array}\right)$ 即可知道叉乘方向为右手系与两向量垂直。