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Scalar (physics)
Scalar quantities or simply scalars are physical quantities that can be described by a single pure number (a ''scalar'', typically a real number), accompanied by a unit of measurement, as in "10cm" (ten centimeters). Examples of scalar are length, mass, charge, volume, and time. Scalars may represent the magnitude of physical quantities, such as speed is to velocity. Scalars do not represent a direction. Scalars are unaffected by changes to a vector space basis (i.e., a coordinate rotation) but may be affected by translations (as in relative speed). A change of a vector space basis changes the description of a vector in terms of the basis used but does not change the vector itself, while a scalar has nothing to do with this change. In classical physics, like Newtonian mechanics, rotations and reflections preserve scalars, while in relativity, Lorentz transformations or space-time translations preserve scalars. The term "scalar" has origin in the multiplication o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Physical Quantity
A physical quantity (or simply quantity) is a property of a material or system that can be Quantification (science), quantified by measurement. A physical quantity can be expressed as a ''value'', which is the algebraic multiplication of a ''numerical value'' and a ''unit of measurement''. For example, the physical quantity mass, symbol ''m'', can be quantified as ''m'n''kg, where ''n'' is the numerical value and kg is the unit symbol (for kilogram). Quantities that are vectors have, besides numerical value and unit, direction or orientation in space. Components Following ISO 80000-1, any value or Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a physical quantity is expressed as a comparison to a unit of that quantity. The ''value'' of a physical quantity ''Z'' is expressed as the product of a ''numerical value'' (a pure number) and a unit [''Z'']: :Z = \ \times [Z] For example, let Z be "2 metres"; then, \ = 2 is the numerical value and [Z] = \mathrm is the unit. Conversely, the nu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Relative Speed
The relative velocity of an object ''B'' relative to an observer ''A'', denoted \mathbf v_ (also \mathbf v_ or \mathbf v_), is the velocity vector (physics), vector of ''B'' measured in the rest frame of ''A''. The relative speed v_ = \, \mathbf v_\, is the vector norm of the relative velocity. Classical mechanics In one dimension (non-relativistic) We begin with relative motion in the classical mechanics, classical, (or non-special relativity, relativistic, or the Classical mechanics, Newtonian approximation) that all speeds are much less than the speed of light. This limit is associated with the Galilean transformation. The figure shows a man on top of a train, at the back edge. At 1:00 pm he begins to walk forward at a walking speed of 10 km/h (kilometers per hour). The train is moving at 40 km/h. The figure depicts the man and train at two different times: first, when the journey began, and also one hour later at 2:00 pm. The figure suggests that the man i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Addition
Vector most often refers to: * Euclidean vector, a quantity with a magnitude and a direction * Disease vector, an agent that carries and transmits an infectious pathogen into another living organism Vector may also refer to: Mathematics and physics * Vector (mathematics and physics) ** Row and column vectors, single row or column matrices ** Vector quantity ** Vector space ** Vector field, a vector for each point Molecular biology * Vector (molecular biology), a DNA molecule used as a vehicle to artificially carry foreign genetic material into another cell ** Cloning vector, a small piece of DNA into which a foreign DNA fragment can be inserted for cloning purposes ** Shuttle vector, a plasmid constructed so that it can propagate in two different host species ** Viral vector, a tool commonly used by molecular biologists to deliver genetic materials into cells Computer science * Vector, a one-dimensional array data structure ** Distance-vector routing protocol, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Complex Number
In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted , called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation i^= -1; every complex number can be expressed in the form a + bi, where and are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number is called the , and is called the . The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols \mathbb C or . Despite the historical nomenclature, "imaginary" complex numbers have a mathematical existence as firm as that of the real numbers, and they are fundamental tools in the scientific description of the natural world. Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex coefficie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inner Product Space
In mathematics, an inner product space (or, rarely, a Hausdorff pre-Hilbert space) is a real vector space or a complex vector space with an operation called an inner product. The inner product of two vectors in the space is a scalar, often denoted with angle brackets such as in \langle a, b \rangle. Inner products allow formal definitions of intuitive geometric notions, such as lengths, angles, and orthogonality (zero inner product) of vectors. Inner product spaces generalize Euclidean vector spaces, in which the inner product is the dot product or ''scalar product'' of Cartesian coordinates. Inner product spaces of infinite dimension are widely used in functional analysis. Inner product spaces over the field of complex numbers are sometimes referred to as unitary spaces. The first usage of the concept of a vector space with an inner product is due to Giuseppe Peano, in 1898. An inner product naturally induces an associated norm, (denoted , x, and , y, in the picture) ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Absolute Square
In mathematics, a square is the result of multiplying a number by itself. The verb "to square" is used to denote this operation. Squaring is the same as raising to the power 2, and is denoted by a superscript 2; for instance, the square of 3 may be written as 32, which is the number 9. In some cases when superscripts are not available, as for instance in programming languages or plain text files, the notations ''x''^2 (caret) or ''x''**2 may be used in place of ''x''2. The adjective which corresponds to squaring is '' quadratic''. The square of an integer may also be called a ''square number'' or a ''perfect square''. In algebra, the operation of squaring is often generalized to polynomials, other expressions, or values in systems of mathematical values other than the numbers. For instance, the square of the linear polynomial is the quadratic polynomial . One of the important properties of squaring, for numbers as well as in many other mathematical systems, is that (for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Square Root
In mathematics, a square root of a number is a number such that y^2 = x; in other words, a number whose ''square'' (the result of multiplying the number by itself, or y \cdot y) is . For example, 4 and −4 are square roots of 16 because 4^2 = (-4)^2 = 16. Every nonnegative real number has a unique nonnegative square root, called the ''principal square root'' or simply ''the square root'' (with a definite article, see below), which is denoted by \sqrt, where the symbol "\sqrt" is called the '' radical sign'' or ''radix''. For example, to express the fact that the principal square root of 9 is 3, we write \sqrt = 3. The term (or number) whose square root is being considered is known as the ''radicand''. The radicand is the number or expression underneath the radical sign, in this case, 9. For non-negative , the principal square root can also be written in exponent notation, as x^. Every positive number has two square roots: \sqrt (which is positive) and -\sqrt (which i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Field
In vector calculus and physics, a vector field is an assignment of a vector to each point in a space, most commonly Euclidean space \mathbb^n. A vector field on a plane can be visualized as a collection of arrows with given magnitudes and directions, each attached to a point on the plane. Vector fields are often used to model, for example, the speed and direction of a moving fluid throughout three dimensional space, such as the wind, or the strength and direction of some force, such as the magnetic or gravitational force, as it changes from one point to another point. The elements of differential and integral calculus extend naturally to vector fields. When a vector field represents force, the line integral of a vector field represents the work done by a force moving along a path, and under this interpretation conservation of energy is exhibited as a special case of the fundamental theorem of calculus. Vector fields can usefully be thought of as representing the velocit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vector Space
In mathematics and physics, a vector space (also called a linear space) is a set (mathematics), set whose elements, often called vector (mathematics and physics), ''vectors'', can be added together and multiplied ("scaled") by numbers called scalar (mathematics), ''scalars''. The operations of vector addition and scalar multiplication must satisfy certain requirements, called ''vector axioms''. Real vector spaces and complex vector spaces are kinds of vector spaces based on different kinds of scalars: real numbers and complex numbers. Scalars can also be, more generally, elements of any field (mathematics), field. Vector spaces generalize Euclidean vectors, which allow modeling of Physical quantity, physical quantities (such as forces and velocity) that have not only a Magnitude (mathematics), magnitude, but also a Orientation (geometry), direction. The concept of vector spaces is fundamental for linear algebra, together with the concept of matrix (mathematics), matrices, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Field (mathematics)
In mathematics, a field is a set (mathematics), set on which addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division (mathematics), division are defined and behave as the corresponding operations on rational number, rational and real numbers. A field is thus a fundamental algebraic structure which is widely used in algebra, number theory, and many other areas of mathematics. The best known fields are the field of rational numbers, the field of real numbers and the field of complex numbers. Many other fields, such as field of rational functions, fields of rational functions, algebraic function fields, algebraic number fields, and p-adic number, ''p''-adic fields are commonly used and studied in mathematics, particularly in number theory and algebraic geometry. Most cryptographic protocols rely on finite fields, i.e., fields with finitely many element (set), elements. The theory of fields proves that angle trisection and squaring the circle cannot be done with a compass and straighte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geometric Transformation
In mathematics, a geometric transformation is any bijection of a set to itself (or to another such set) with some salient geometrical underpinning, such as preserving distances, angles, or ratios (scale). More specifically, it is a function whose domain and range are sets of points – most often a real coordinate space, \mathbb^2 or \mathbb^3 – such that the function is bijective so that its inverse exists. The study of geometry may be approached by the study of these transformations, such as in transformation geometry. Classifications Geometric transformations can be classified by the dimension of their operand sets (thus distinguishing between, say, planar transformations and spatial transformations). They can also be classified according to the properties they preserve: * Displacements preserve distances and oriented angles (e.g., translations); * Isometries preserve angles and distances (e.g., Euclidean transformations); * Similarities preserve angles and ratios ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Scaling (geometry)
In affine geometry, uniform scaling (or isotropic scaling) is a linear transformation that enlarges (increases) or shrinks (diminishes) objects by a '' scale factor'' that is the same in all directions ( isotropically). The result of uniform scaling is similar (in the geometric sense) to the original. A scale factor of 1 is normally allowed, so that congruent shapes are also classed as similar. Uniform scaling happens, for example, when enlarging or reducing a photograph, or when creating a scale model of a building, car, airplane, etc. More general is scaling with a separate scale factor for each axis direction. Non-uniform scaling (anisotropic scaling) is obtained when at least one of the scaling factors is different from the others; a special case is directional scaling or stretching (in one direction). Non-uniform scaling changes the shape of the object; e.g. a square may change into a rectangle, or into a parallelogram if the sides of the square are not parallel to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
