Past exam of the mathematics course of the University of Oxford / 2017 / Prelims / Mathematics IV / 1 / a / Solution

For vectors $\mathbf{a},\mathbf{b},\mathbf{c}\in {\mathbb{R}}^3$, the scalar product, cross product and scalar triple product are respectivelyExpanding the dot product givesInterchanging $\mathbf{a}$ and $\mathbf{b}$ changes the sign of their cross product, so its dot product with $\mathbf{b}$ is also zero. Thus the cross product is orthogonal to both vectors, including when it is the zero vector.

The displayed scalar triple product is a determinant. A square matrix has nonzero determinant exactly when its rows are linearly independent. Hence