Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-mathematics-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2003/ia/paper-1/8d/iii/solution

For the stated angle, , so . The minimizing unit vector is therefore , and
Indeed all three pairwise dot products equal , so the vectors lie in one plane, separated by degrees. This is also the global minimum pairwise dot-product sum of three unit vectors: for any three unit vectors,
so , with equality exactly when .

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