Vector & Matrix

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Physical quantities that have both magnitude and associated direction are called vectors. Examples of vector include displacement, velocity, acceleration, force, momentum, and impulse. Quantities such as temperature, mass, time, energy, power, and work, on the other hand, do not require directional info to completely describe them and these quantities are called scalars. Although the vector algebra is considered to be somewhat more complicated than that of the scalars, vectors are very convenient tools in describing and explaining the motions of bodies.

Another mathematical tool commonly used in mechanics is the matrix. Matrices are mainly used in axis transformation and 3-dimensional angular kinematics and kinetics in motion analysis.

In this section the properties of the vector and scalar are briefly summarized. The pages included in this section are:

	Vector
	Matrix
	Vector vs. Matrix

For more info regarding the use of vectors and scalars, see the following pages:

	Coordinate Systems
	Axis Transformation