6.0: Overview

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This chapter is somewhat different from the other chapters in this text, in that much of the material serves as reference for the following two chapters. We start this Chapter with introducing the concept of vectors, which is a mathematical tool that we will need to understanding physical concepts and to solve problems for the remainder of this course. We will introduce specific vectors that we frequency use in physics, especially those use to describe the dynamics of objects.

For the remainder of the chapter we will focus on one specific type of vector, a force. Forces are extremely important in physics since they will help us explain why objects move the way they do or why they stay stationary. These ideas are explained by the famous Newton's Laws of nature.