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Scalar
 
 
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A scalar is a variable that only has magnitude
Magnitude (mathematics)

The magnitude of a mathematical object is its size: a property by which it can be larger or smaller than other objects of the same kind; in technical terms, an ordering of the class of objects to which it belongs....
, e.g. a speed
Speed

Speed is the rate of Motion , or equivalently the rate of change of distance.Speed is a Scalar quantity with dimensions length/time; the equivalent Vector quantity to speed is velocity....
 of 40 km/h. Compare it with vector
Vector

Vector may refer to:...
, a quantity comprising both magnitude and direction
Direction (geometry, geography)

Direction is the information contained in the relative position of one point with respect to another point without the distance information. Directions may be either Relative direction to some indicated reference , or absolute according to some previously agreed upon frame of reference ....
, e.g. a velocity
Velocity

In physics, velocity is defined as the Derivative of Position vector. It is a vector physical quantity; both speed and direction are required to define it....
 of 40km/h north.










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A scalar is a variable that only has magnitude
Magnitude (mathematics)

The magnitude of a mathematical object is its size: a property by which it can be larger or smaller than other objects of the same kind; in technical terms, an ordering of the class of objects to which it belongs....
, e.g. a speed
Speed

Speed is the rate of Motion , or equivalently the rate of change of distance.Speed is a Scalar quantity with dimensions length/time; the equivalent Vector quantity to speed is velocity....
 of 40 km/h. Compare it with vector
Vector

Vector may refer to:...
, a quantity comprising both magnitude and direction
Direction (geometry, geography)

Direction is the information contained in the relative position of one point with respect to another point without the distance information. Directions may be either Relative direction to some indicated reference , or absolute according to some previously agreed upon frame of reference ....
, e.g. a velocity
Velocity

In physics, velocity is defined as the Derivative of Position vector. It is a vector physical quantity; both speed and direction are required to define it....
 of 40km/h north.

  • Scalar (mathematics)
    Scalar (mathematics)

    In linear algebra, real numbers are called scalars and relate to vectors in a vector space through the operation of scalar multiplication, in which a vector can be multiplied by a number to produce another vector....
    , a quantity which is independent of viewpoint, a non-tensor
  • Scalar (physics)
    Scalar (physics)

    In physics, a scalar is a simple physical quantity that is not changed by coordinate system rotations or translations , or by Lorentz transformations or space-time translations ....
    , the same as the notion of scalar in differential geometry
  • Scalar (computing)
    Scalar (computing)

    In computing, a scalar is a variable or field that can hold only one value at a time; as opposed to composite variables like array, List , object composition, etc....
    , an atomic quantity that can hold only one value at a time


See also


  • Scalar field
    Scalar field

    In mathematics and physics, a scalar field associates a scalar value, which can be either scalar in definition, or scalar , to every point in space....
  • Scalar multiplication
    Scalar multiplication

    In mathematics, scalar multiplication is one of the basic operations defining a vector space in linear algebra . Note that scalar multiplication is different from scalar product which is an inner product between two vectors....
  • Inner product space
    Inner product space

    In mathematics, an inner product space is a vector space with the additional Mathematical structure of inner product. This additional structure associates each pair of vectors in the space with a Scalar quantity known as the inner product of the vectors....
  • Scalar product, also known as the dot product
    Dot product

    In mathematics, the dot product, also known as the scalar product, is an operation which takes two vector over the real numbers R and returns a real-valued scalar quantity....
  • Pseudoscalar
    Pseudoscalar

    In physics, a pseudoscalar is a quantity that behaves like a scalar , except that it changes sign under a Parity such as improper rotations while a true scalar does not....
  • Scalar processor
    Scalar processor

    Scalar processors represent the simplest class of computer processors. A scalar processor processes one data item at a time . In a vector processor, by contrast, a single instruction operates simultaneously on multiple data items....
  • Pterophyllum scalare
    Pterophyllum

    Pterophyllum is a small genus of Fresh water fish from the Family Cichlidae known to most aquarists as "Angelfish". All Pterophyllum species originate from the Amazon River, Orinoco River and Essequibo River basins in tropical South America....
     (Lichtenstein, 1823), a species of freshwater angelfish