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Vectors

Why Study Vectors?

You use vectors in almost every activity you do. A vector is a quantity that has size and direction. The fancy word for size is "magnitude".

Examples of everyday activities that involve vectors include:

  • Breathing (your diaphragm muscles exert a force that has a magnitude and direction)
  • Walking (you walk at a velocity of around 6 km/h in the direction of the bathroom)
  • Going to school (the bus has a length of about 20 m and is headed towards your school)
  • Lunch (the displacement from your class room to the canteen is about 40 m in a northerly direction)

Each vector quantity has a magnitude and a direction.

In this Chapter

We start slow and easy by talking about simple vectors:

Next, we move on to 2-dimensional vectors

Next up is the interesting 3-D stuff:

To round out this chapter, we talk about

Examples of Vector Art

traditional japan
Source: Traditional Japan by j4p4n

Tribal kitten
Source: Tribal Kitten by GDJ

JSON logo
Source: JSON logo by 1001FreeDownloads

The above images are in Scalar Vector Graphics (SVG) format. Try zooming really close and you'll see there is no pixelation (blockiness).

See more on Vector Art later in the chapter.

Let's start the chapter with Vector Concepts and Notation.

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