- #1
HyperActive
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I'm just starting to learn about vectors, and I was trying to figure out what the vector components mean physically. I've seen two definitions of vectors, and the first is a that a vector is something with a size and a direction. The second definition I saw defined vectors as "displacements in space" and that given an example vector, say (3,4,1) that would represent a displacement of 3 in the x direction, 4 in the y direction and 1 in the z direction.
This made a lot of sense to me intuitively - that looking at it as displacement would explain why parallel vectors are equal and why vectors are coordinate-independent. However, although I don't know much about it, I know displacement is defined to be a vector in itself, so I can't see how it could be part of the definition of a vector.
So my question is, do vector components represent displacement? And if the don't, what physical quantity/term do they represent?
Thanks :)
This made a lot of sense to me intuitively - that looking at it as displacement would explain why parallel vectors are equal and why vectors are coordinate-independent. However, although I don't know much about it, I know displacement is defined to be a vector in itself, so I can't see how it could be part of the definition of a vector.
So my question is, do vector components represent displacement? And if the don't, what physical quantity/term do they represent?
Thanks :)