What is the Meaning of Tangential and Normal Components in Vector Analysis?

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The discussion clarifies the definitions of tangential and normal components in vector analysis. The tangential component of a vector is determined by the derivative of each component concerning a parameter, while the normal component is calculated using the cross product of the bi-normal unit vector and the normalized tangent vector. Additionally, it is noted that vectors can be decomposed in various ways, with the most common being along the x, y, and z axes.

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For an arbitrary vector, what is meant by tangential and normal component of the vector?
 
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saravanan13 said:
For an arbitrary vector, what is meant by tangential and normal component of the vector?

A vector in general is just something that has a direction and a magnitude.

I don't know if this is right but if you are thinking a parametric vector function, then the tangential component is just the derivative of each component with respect to the parameter and the normal is the cross product of the bi-normal unit vector with the normalized tangent vector.

Also vectors in any space have infinite decompositions, the most obvious one are your axis (think x,y,z axis).

If I'm not answering your question, maybe you can give some more information to help clarify what you want.
 

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