# What is the difference between a vector field and vector space?

by harjyot
Tags: difference, field, space, vector
 Mentor P: 15,146 A vector space V over a field F is a mathematical space that obeys some very simple and generic requirements. (A space is a set with some additional structure; a field is (oversimplified) a set for which addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division are defined.) Elements of the space V are called vectors. The requirements on a vector space areThere is a commutative and associative operation "+" by which two element of the space can be added to form another element in the space. There exists a special member of the set V, the zero vector $\vec 0$, such that $\vec v + \vec 0 = \vec 0 + \vec v = \vec v$ for all members $\vec v$ in V. For every vector $\vec v$ in V there exists another vector $-\vec v$ such that $\vec v + -\vec v = \vec 0$ Multiplication by a scalar: Every member of the vector space V can be scaled (multiplied) by a member of the field F, yielding a member of the space. Scaling is consistent. Scaling any element $\vec v$ in the vector space V by the multiplicative identity 1 of F yields the vector $\vec v$, and [itex]a(b\vec v) = (ab)\vec v[/tex] for any scalars a and b and any vector v. That's all there is to vector spaces. Nothing about magnitude, nothing about direction (or the angle between two vectors). That requires something extra, the concept of a norm for magnitude, of an inner product for angle. A vector field is something different from a vector space. Let's start with the concept of a function. A function is something that maps members of one space to members of some other space. If that other space is a vector space, well, that's a vector field.