Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
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.
A scalar field is a tensor field of order zero, [3] and the term "scalar field" may be used to distinguish a function of this kind with a more general tensor field, density, or differential form. The scalar field of ((+)) oscillating as increases. Red represents positive values, purple represents negative values, and sky blue represents ...
A formal expression is a kind of string of symbols, created by the same production rules as standard expressions, however, they are used without regard to the meaning of the expression. In this way, two formal expressions are considered equal only if they are syntactically equal, that is, if they are the exact same expression.
Scalar multiplication of a vector by a factor of 3 stretches the vector out. The scalar multiplications −a and 2a of a vector a. In mathematics, scalar multiplication is one of the basic operations defining a vector space in linear algebra [1] [2] [3] (or more generally, a module in abstract algebra [4] [5]).
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 ...
A simple Lorentz scalar in Minkowski spacetime is the spacetime distance ("length" of their difference) of two fixed events in spacetime. While the "position"-4-vectors of the events change between different inertial frames, their spacetime distance remains invariant under the corresponding Lorentz transformation.
Another example of a scale-invariant classical field theory is the massless scalar field (note that the name scalar is unrelated to scale invariance). The scalar field, φ(x, t) is a function of a set of spatial variables, x, and a time variable, t. Consider first the linear theory.
Given a module M over a ring R, a linear form on M is a linear map from M to R, where the latter is considered as a module over itself. The space of linear forms is always denoted Hom k (V, k), whether k is a field or not. It is a right module if V is a left module. The existence of "enough" linear forms on a module is equivalent to ...