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In geometry, a position or position vector, also known as location vector or radius vector, is a Euclidean vector that represents a point P in space. Its length represents the distance in relation to an arbitrary reference origin O , and its direction represents the angular orientation with respect to given reference axes.
This glossary of physics is a list of definitions of terms and concepts relevant to physics, its sub-disciplines, and related fields, including mechanics, materials science, nuclear physics, particle physics, and thermodynamics.
Snap, [6] or jounce, [2] is the fourth derivative of the position vector with respect to time, or the rate of change of the jerk with respect to time. [4] Equivalently, it is the second derivative of acceleration or the third derivative of velocity, and is defined by any of the following equivalent expressions: = ȷ = = =.
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 ("scaled") by numbers called scalars. The operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication must satisfy certain requirements, called vector axioms.
In physics and geometry, there are two closely related vector spaces, usually three-dimensional but in general of any finite dimension. Position space (also real space or coordinate space) is the set of all position vectors r in Euclidean space, and has dimensions of length; a position vector defines a point in space.
In mathematics it is a common convention to express the normal as a unit vector, but the above argument holds for a normal vector of any non-zero length. Conversely, it is easily shown that if a , b , c , and d are constants and a , b , and c are not all zero, then the graph of the equation a x + b y + c z + d = 0 , {\displaystyle ax+by+cz+d=0 ...
The solution is the position vector r of the particle at time t, subject to the initial conditions of r and v when t = 0. Newton's laws are easy to use in Cartesian coordinates, but Cartesian coordinates are not always convenient, and for other coordinate systems the equations of motion can become complicated.
For instance, if the vector represents position with respect to an observer (position vector), then the coordinate system may be obtained from a system of rigid rods, or reference axes, along which the components v 1, v 2, and v 3 are measured. For a vector to represent a geometric object, it must be possible to describe how it looks in any ...