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A scalar is an element of a field which is used to define a vector space.In linear algebra, real numbers or generally elements of a field are called scalars and relate to vectors in an associated vector space through the operation of scalar multiplication (defined in the vector space), in which a vector can be multiplied by a scalar in the defined way to produce another vector.
Vector addition and scalar multiplication: a vector v (blue) is added to another vector w (red, upper illustration). Below, w is stretched by a factor of 2, yielding the sum v + 2w . In mathematics and physics , a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set whose elements, often called vectors , can be added together and multiplied ...
A scalar in physics and other areas of science is also a scalar in mathematics, as an element of a mathematical field used to define a vector space.For example, the magnitude (or length) of an electric field vector is calculated as the square root of its absolute square (the inner product of the electric field with itself); so, the inner product's result is an element of the mathematical field ...
Mathematically, a scalar field on a region U is a real or complex-valued function or distribution on U. [1] [2] The region U may be a set in some Euclidean space, Minkowski space, or more generally a subset of a manifold, and it is typical in mathematics to impose further conditions on the field, such that it be continuous or often continuously differentiable to some order.
Scalar may refer to: Scalar (mathematics) , an element of a field, which is used to define a vector space, usually the field of real numbers Scalar (physics) , a physical quantity that can be described by a single element of a number field such as a real number
A quaternion of the form a + 0 i + 0 j + 0 k, where a is a real number, is called scalar, and a quaternion of the form 0 + b i + c j + d k, where b, c, and d are real numbers, and at least one of b, c, or d is nonzero, is called a vector quaternion. If a + b i + c j + d k is any quaternion, then a is called its scalar part and b i + c j + d k ...
As a vector operator, it can act on scalar and vector fields in three different ways, giving rise to three different differential operations: first, it can act on scalar fields by a formal scalar multiplication—to give a vector field called the gradient; second, it can act on vector fields by a formal dot product—to give a scalar field ...
The term vector was coined by W. R. Hamilton around 1843, as he revealed quaternions, a system which uses vectors and scalars to span a four-dimensional space. For a quaternion q = a + bi + cj + dk, Hamilton used two projections: S q = a, for the scalar part of q, and V q = bi + cj + dk, the vector part.