The scalar product of two vectors, A and B, is a number, which is a * b * cos(alpha), where a = |A|; b = |B|; and alpha = the angle between A and B.
The vector product of two vectors, A and B, is a vector, which is a * b * sin(alpha) *C, where C is unit vector orthogonal to both A and B and follows the right-hand rule (see the related link).
============================ The scalar AND vector product are the result of the multiplication of two vectors:
AB = -A.B + AxB = -|AB|cos(AB) + |AB|sin(AB)UC where UC is the unit vector perpendicular to both A and B.
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It depends on the type of product used. A dot or scalar product of two vectors will result in a scalar. A cross or vector product of two vectors will result in a vector.
Answer: A vector is always the product of 2 scalars
The product of two vectors can be done in two different ways. The result of one way is another vector. The result of the other way is a scalar ... that's why that method is called the "scalar product". The way it's done is (magnitude of one vector) times (magnitude of the other vector) times (cosine of the angle between them).
A scalar times a vector is a vector.
Because there are two different ways of computing the product of two vectors, one of which yields a scalar quantity while the other yields a vector quantity.This isn't a "sometimes" thing: the dot product of two vectors is always scalar, while the cross product of two vectors is always a vector.