Vector Identity with index notation

cross productlinear algebravectors

I'm trying to proving the vector identity given by
$$(\mathbf{A}\times \mathbf{B})\times (\mathbf{C}\times \mathbf{D})=(\mathbf{A}\cdot(\mathbf{B}\times \mathbf{D}))\mathbf{C}-(\mathbf{A}\cdot(\mathbf{B}\times \mathbf{C}))\mathbf{D}$$

I started from left hand side
$$((\mathbf{A}\times \mathbf{B})\times (\mathbf{C}\times \mathbf{D}))_i=\epsilon_{ijk}(\mathbf{A}\times \mathbf{B})_j (\mathbf{C}\times \mathbf{D})_k$$
$$=\epsilon_{ijk}\epsilon_{jpq }\epsilon_{klm}A_pB_qC_lD_m$$
I don't idea what to do now. I tried using product property but that's just messed everything.

Please help me though this.

Best Answer

The first and third Levi-Civita symbols contract to $\delta_{il}\delta_{jm}-\delta_{im}\delta_{jl}$, so the component is$$\color{blue}{\epsilon_{pqj}}(A_pB_qC_iD_j-A_pB_qC_jD_i)=(A\cdot B\times D)C_i-(A\cdot B\times C)D_i,$$where the blue factor uses $\epsilon_{jpq}=\epsilon_{pqj}$.

A proof with less calculation uses the fact that, since $C\times D$ is orthogonal to the plane $C,\,D$ span, $(A\times B)\times(C\times D)$ is a linear combination of $C,\,D$ that changes sign when they're exchanged, and also when $A,\,B$ are. This, together with multilinearity, gives the desired result up to a proportionality constant, which can be fixed with an example.

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