PHYS 1300 Lecture 6: Vectors
2 Nov 2017
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Document Summary
Vectors: notation, multiplication and division involving scalars, addition and subtraction using components. Review 3. 2 on your own time, review trigonometry section 3. 3 if you need a refresher. Since math is different for vectors compared with scalars, we use specific notation to indicate which type of quantity we are working with: displacement: , velocity: , acceleration: . Vector notation magnitude of a vector (always a positive answer) If we just want to specify the magnitude of a particular vector but not the direction in which it is pointing (ie. instantaneous speed of a car, but not its direction of motion) Vector arithmetic multiplying/dividing a vector: magnitude of displacement: | | (*always a positive answer*, flips the direction of the vector by (cid:883)8(cid:882)0 if the scalar is negative, changes the magnitude/size of the vector by this factor. In order to add 2 vectors, the tail of one is drawn from the tip to the other.
