Vectors

This chapter discusses scalars and vectors. A scalar quantity has magnitude but no direction, while vectors have both magnitude and direction. A vector can be expressed in terms of plane polar coordinates, as a magnitude and a direction. We obtain the magnitude of a vector in Cartesian space using Pythagoras' theorem and the coefficients of the unit vectors. The chapter then looks at the scalar multiplication of vectors, as well as the process of adding and subtracting vectors. It explains how vectors are good at describing the result of relative motion, when one object is moving with respect to a reference object. Finally, the chapter considers the process of multiplying vectors as a cross product and as a dot product, before focusing on vector derivatives.