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In mathematics, a unit vector in a normed vector space is a vector (often a spatial vector) of length 1. A unit vector is often denoted by a lowercase letter with a circumflex, or "hat", as in ^ (pronounced "v-hat"). The term normalized vector is sometimes used as a synonym for unit vector. The normalized vector û of a non-zero vector u is the ...
Vector algebra relations — regarding operations on individual vectors such as dot product, cross product, etc. Vector calculus identities — regarding operations on vector fields such as divergence, gradient, curl, etc.
The dotted vector, in this case B, is differentiated, while the (undotted) A is held constant. The utility of the Feynman subscript notation lies in its use in the derivation of vector and tensor derivative identities, as in the following example which uses the algebraic identity C⋅(A×B) = (C×A)⋅B:
In such a presentation, the notions of length and angle are defined by means of the dot product. The length of a vector is defined as the square root of the dot product of the vector by itself, and the cosine of the (non oriented) angle between two vectors of length one is defined as their dot product. So the equivalence of the two definitions ...
A unit vector means that the vector has a length of 1, which is also known as normalized. Orthogonal means that the vectors are all perpendicular to each other. A set of vectors form an orthonormal set if all vectors in the set are mutually orthogonal and all of unit length. An orthonormal set which forms a basis is called an orthonormal basis.
Also, the dot, cross, and dyadic products can all be expressed in matrix form. Dyadic expressions may closely resemble the matrix equivalents. The dot product of a dyadic with a vector gives another vector, and taking the dot product of this result gives a scalar derived from the dyadic.
The tangent, normal, and binormal unit vectors, often called T, N, and B, or collectively the Frenet–Serret frame (TNB frame or TNB basis), together form an orthonormal basis that spans, and are defined as follows: T is the unit vector tangent to the curve, pointing in the direction of motion.
The following are important identities in vector algebra.Identities that only involve the magnitude of a vector ‖ ‖ and the dot product (scalar product) of two vectors A·B, apply to vectors in any dimension, while identities that use the cross product (vector product) A×B only apply in three dimensions, since the cross product is only defined there.