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The two polar coordinates of a point in a plane may be considered as a two dimensional vector. Such a vector consists of a magnitude (or length) and a direction (or angle). The magnitude, typically represented as r , is the distance from a starting point, the origin , to the point which is represented.
In mathematics, analytic geometry, also known as coordinate geometry or Cartesian geometry, is the study of geometry using a coordinate system. This contrasts with synthetic geometry . Analytic geometry is used in physics and engineering , and also in aviation , rocketry , space science , and spaceflight .
If the dot product of two vectors is defined—a scalar-valued product of two vectors—then it is also possible to define a length; the dot product gives a convenient algebraic characterization of both angle (a function of the dot product between any two non-zero vectors) and length (the square root of the dot product of a vector by itself).
Lines in a Cartesian plane or, more generally, in affine coordinates, are characterized by linear equations. More precisely, every line L {\displaystyle L} (including vertical lines) is the set of all points whose coordinates ( x , y ) satisfy a linear equation; that is, L = { ( x , y ) ∣ a x + b y = c } , {\displaystyle L=\{(x,y)\mid ax+by=c ...
Cartesian coordinates identify points of the Euclidean plane with pairs of real numbers. In mathematics, the real coordinate space or real coordinate n-space, of dimension n, denoted R n or , is the set of all ordered n-tuples of real numbers, that is the set of all sequences of n real numbers, also known as coordinate vectors.
In the natural sciences, a vector quantity (also known as a vector physical quantity, physical vector, or simply vector) is a vector-valued physical quantity. [9] [10] It is typically formulated as the product of a unit of measurement and a vector numerical value (), often a Euclidean vector with magnitude and direction.
Every vector a in three dimensions is a linear combination of the standard basis vectors i, j and k.. In mathematics, the standard basis (also called natural basis or canonical basis) of a coordinate vector space (such as or ) is the set of vectors, each of whose components are all zero, except one that equals 1. [1]
In Cartesian coordinates, the basis vectors are fixed (constant). In the more general setting of curvilinear coordinates, a point in space is specified by the coordinates, and at every such point there is bound a set of basis vectors, which generally are not constant: this is the essence of curvilinear coordinates in general and is a very important concept.