Given is a vector and m is a scalar such that

Let then according to the given question

Compare the coefficients of, we get

ma₁ = 0 ⇒ m = 0 or a₁ = 0

Similarly, mb₁ = 0 ⇒ m = 0 or b₁ = 0

And, mc₁ = 0 ⇒ m = 0 or c₁ = 0

From the above three conditions,

m = 0 or a₁ = b₁ = c₁ = 0

⇒ m = 0 or

Hence the alternatives for m and are m = 0 or