vectorand tensor mathematics- universityof cincinnati（数学,辛辛那提大学vectorand张量）（9页）.docVIP

Mathematics for Modeling The intent of this section is to give a refresher in vector and tensor mathematics, a critical tool for modeling any system. Vector Mathematics What is a vector? A vector is a physical representation of a physical quantity that possesses both magnitude and direction. Examples of vectors are forces acting on a body and velocities of objects. A vector can also be thought of as a first order tensor…a term that will be explained later. To envision a vector, one pictures an arrow pointing in the direction of the vector and having a length representative of the magnitude of the vector. Vectors can be classified into subcategories which include: Equal vectors: two vectors having the same magnitude and direction Unit vectors: a vector of unit length and is calculated by dividing the vector by its own magnitude Null or Zero vectors: a vector with zero magnitude (zero length) and an unspecified direction Negative vectors: two vectors having the same magnitude, but opposite directions Under symbolic (also called Gibbs) notation, vectors are designated by bold-faced letters and scalars are denoted as italic letters. Unit vectors are typically represented with a caret placed over a bold-faced letter (). The magnitude of the vector can be represented by its scalar value, a, or by placing the vector symbol between vertical bars, |a|. Vector Addition Vector addition is easily visualized with the parallelogram law or triangle rule, as shown below: The parallelogram law states that the sum of two vectors is represented by the diagonal of a parallelogram having the component vectors as adjacent sides. An alternative technique, the triangle rule, states that the sum of the two vectors is represented by the vector extending from the tail of the first vector to the head of the second vector when the vectors to be summed are adjoined head to tail. Multiplication of a Vector by a Scalar When a vector is multiplied by a scalar, the resulting product