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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.
Cartesian y-axis basis unit vector unitless kinetic energy: joule (J) wave vector: radian per meter (m −1) Boltzmann constant: joule per kelvin (J/K) wavenumber: radian per meter (m −1) stiffness: newton per meter (N⋅m −1) ^ Cartesian z-axis basis unit 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 ...
The table usually lists only one name and symbol that is most commonly used. The final column lists some special properties that some of the quantities have, such as their scaling behavior (i.e. whether the quantity is intensive or extensive ), their transformation properties (i.e. whether the quantity is a scalar , vector , matrix or tensor ...
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 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 ...
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. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] It is typically formulated as the product of a unit of measurement and a vector numerical value ( unitless ), often a Euclidean vector with magnitude and direction .
A vector pointing from A to B. In mathematics, physics, and engineering, a Euclidean vector or simply a vector (sometimes called a geometric vector [1] or spatial vector [2]) is a geometric object that has magnitude (or length) and direction. Euclidean vectors can be added and scaled to form a vector space.