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In mathematics and physics, the right-hand rule is a convention and a mnemonic, utilized to define the orientation of axes in three-dimensional space and to determine the direction of the cross product of two vectors, as well as to establish the direction of the force on a current-carrying conductor in a magnetic field.
For example, the three-dimensional Cartesian coordinates (x, y, z) is an orthogonal coordinate system, since its coordinate surfaces x = constant, y = constant, and z = constant are planes that meet at right angles to one another, i.e., are perpendicular. Orthogonal coordinates are a special but extremely common case of curvilinear coordinates.
A Cartesian coordinate system in two dimensions (also called a rectangular coordinate system or an orthogonal coordinate system [8]) is defined by an ordered pair of perpendicular lines (axes), a single unit of length for both axes, and an orientation for each axis. The point where the axes meet is taken as the origin for both, thus turning ...
A basic 3D rotation (also called elemental rotation) is a rotation about one of the axes of a coordinate system. The following three basic rotation matrices rotate vectors by an angle θ about the x-, y-, or z-axis, in three dimensions, using the right-hand rule—which codifies their alternating signs.
A coordinate system for which some coordinate curves are not lines is called a curvilinear coordinate system. [13] Orthogonal coordinates are a special but extremely common case of curvilinear coordinates. A coordinate line with all other constant coordinates equal to zero is called a coordinate axis, an oriented line used for assigning ...
Orthogonality and rotation of coordinate systems compared between left: Euclidean space through circular angle ϕ, right: in Minkowski spacetime through hyperbolic angle ϕ (red lines labelled c denote the worldlines of a light signal, a vector is orthogonal to itself if it lies on this line).
The line segments AB and CD are orthogonal to each other. In mathematics, orthogonality is the generalization of the geometric notion of perpendicularity.Whereas perpendicular is typically followed by to when relating two lines to one another (e.g., "line A is perpendicular to line B"), [1] orthogonal is commonly used without to (e.g., "orthogonal lines A and B").
Consider a rigid body, with three orthogonal unit vectors fixed to its body (representing the three axes of the object's local coordinate system). The basic problem is to specify the orientation of these three unit vectors, and hence the rigid body, with respect to the observer's coordinate system, regarded as a reference placement in space.