1: Introduction
( \newcommand{\kernel}{\mathrm{null}\,}\)
- 1.1: Prelude to Vectors
- Vectors are essential to physics and engineering. Many fundamental physical quantities are vectors, including displacement, velocity, force, and electric and magnetic vector fields. Scalar products of vectors define other fundamental scalar physical quantities, such as energy. Vector products of vectors define still other fundamental vector physical quantities, such as torque and angular momentum.
- 1.3: Scalars and Vectors Part 2
- Vectors are geometrically represented by arrows, with the end marked by an arrowhead. The length of the vector is its magnitude, which is a positive scalar. On a plane, the direction of a vector is given by the angle the vector makes with a reference direction, often an angle with the horizontal. When a vector is multiplied by a scalar, the result is another vector of a different length than the length of the original vector.