Vector (geometric) in the context of Normal component

The invariable plane of a planetary system, also called Laplace's invariable plane, is the plane passing through its barycenter (center of mass) perpendicular to its angular momentum vector.

In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted i, called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation ${\displaystyle i^{2}=-1}$; every complex number can be expressed in the form ${\displaystyle a+bi}$, where a and b are real numbers. Because no real number satisfies the above equation, i was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. For the complex number ${\displaystyle a+bi}$, a is called the real part, and b is called the imaginary part. The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} }$ or C. Despite the historical nomenclature, "imaginary" complex numbers have a mathematical existence as firm as that of the real numbers, and they are fundamental tools in the scientific description of the natural world.

Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex coefficients has a solution which is a complex number. For example, the equation${\displaystyle (x+1)^{2}=-9}$has no real solution, because the square of a real number cannot be negative, but has the two nonreal complex solutions ${\displaystyle -1+3i}$ and ${\displaystyle -1-3i}$.

An image gradient is a directional change in the intensity or color in an image. The gradient of the image is one of the fundamental building blocks in image processing. For example, the Canny edge detector uses image gradient for edge detection. In graphics software for digital image editing, the term gradient or color gradient is also used for a gradual blend of color which can be considered as an even gradation from low to high values, and seen from black to white in the images to the right. Another name for this is color progression.

Mathematically, the gradient of a two-variable function (here the image intensity function) at each image point is a 2D vector with the components given by the derivatives in the horizontal and vertical directions. At each image point, the gradient vector points in the direction of largest possible intensity increase, and the length of the gradient vector corresponds to the rate of change in that direction.

In crystallography, the monoclinic crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three vectors. In the monoclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal lengths, as in the orthorhombic system. They form a parallelogram prism. Hence two pairs of vectors are perpendicular (meet at right angles), while the third pair makes an angle other than 90°.

In mathematics, particularly multivariable calculus, a surface integral is a generalization of multiple integrals to integration over surfaces. It can be thought of as the double integral analogue of the line integral. Given a surface, one may integrate over this surface a scalar field (that is, a function of position which returns a scalar as a value), or a vector field (that is, a function which returns a vector as value). If a region R is not flat, then it is called a surface as shown in the illustration.

Surface integrals have applications in physics, particularly in the classical theories of electromagnetism and fluid mechanics.

In physics and engineering, heat flux or thermal flux, sometimes also referred to as heat flux density, heat-flow density or heat-flow rate intensity, is a flow of energy per unit area per unit time. Its SI units are watts per square metre (W/m). It has both a direction and a magnitude, and so it is a vector quantity. To define the heat flux at a certain point in space, one takes the limiting case where the size of the surface becomes infinitesimally small.

Heat flux is often denoted ${\displaystyle {\vec {\phi }}_{\mathrm {q} }}$, the subscript q specifying heat flux, as opposed to mass or momentum flux. Fourier's law is an important application of these concepts.

In mathematics, a complex number is an element of a number system that extends the real numbers with a specific element denoted i, called the imaginary unit and satisfying the equation ${\displaystyle i^{2}=-1}$; because no real number satisfies the above equation, i was called an imaginary number by René Descartes. Every complex number can be expressed in the form ${\displaystyle a+bi}$, where a and b are real numbers, a is called the real part, and b is called the imaginary part. The set of complex numbers is denoted by either of the symbols ${\displaystyle \mathbb {C} }$ or C. Despite the historical nomenclature, "imaginary" complex numbers have a mathematical existence as firm as that of the real numbers, and they are fundamental tools in the scientific description of the natural world.

Complex numbers allow solutions to all polynomial equations, even those that have no solutions in real numbers. More precisely, the fundamental theorem of algebra asserts that every non-constant polynomial equation with real or complex coefficients has a solution which is a complex number. For example, the equation${\displaystyle (x+1)^{2}=-9}$has no real solution, because the square of a real number cannot be negative, but has the two nonreal complex solutions ${\displaystyle -1+3i}$ and ${\displaystyle -1-3i}$.

In crystallography, the triclinic (or anorthic) crystal system is one of the seven crystal systems. A crystal system is described by three basis vectors. In the triclinic system, the crystal is described by vectors of unequal length, as in the orthorhombic system. In addition, the angles between these vectors must all be different and may not include 90°.

The triclinic lattice is the least symmetric of the 14 three-dimensional Bravais lattices. It has (itself) the minimum symmetry all lattices have: points of inversion at each lattice point and at 7 more points for each lattice point: at the midpoints of the edges and the faces, and at the center points. It is the only lattice type that itself has no mirror planes.

In physics, a wave vector (or wavevector) is a vector used in describing a wave, with a typical unit being cycle per metre. It has a magnitude and direction. Its magnitude is the wavenumber of the wave (inversely proportional to the wavelength), and its direction is perpendicular to the wavefront. In isotropic media, this is also the direction of wave propagation.

A closely related vector is the angular wave vector (or angular wavevector), with a typical unit being radian per metre. The wave vector and angular wave vector are related by a fixed constant of proportionality, 2π radians per cycle.

In electromagnetism, current density is the amount of charge per unit time that flows through a unit area of a chosen cross section. The current density vector is defined as a vector whose magnitude is the electric current per cross-sectional area at a given point in space, its direction being that of the motion of the positive charges at this point. In SI base units, the electric current density is measured in amperes per meter square.

The hairy ball theorem of algebraic topology (sometimes called the hedgehog theorem) states that there is no nonvanishing continuous tangent vector field on even-dimensional n-spheres. For the ordinary sphere, or 2‑sphere, if f is a continuous function that assigns a vector in ℝ to every point p on a sphere such that f(p) is always tangent to the sphere at p, then there is at least one pole, a point where the field vanishes (a p such that f(p) = 0).

The theorem was first proven by Henri Poincaré for the 2-sphere in 1885, and extended to higher even dimensions in 1912 by Luitzen Egbertus Jan Brouwer.

In materials science, the Burgers vector, named after Dutch physicist Jan Burgers, is a vector, often denoted as b, that represents the magnitude and direction of the lattice distortion resulting from a dislocation in a crystal lattice.

In mathematics, the scalar projection of a vector ${\displaystyle \mathbf {a} }$ on (or onto) a vector ${\displaystyle \mathbf {b} ,}$ also known as the scalar resolute of ${\displaystyle \mathbf {a} }$ in the direction of ${\displaystyle \mathbf {b} ,}$ is given by:

where the operator ${\displaystyle \cdot }$ denotes a dot product, ${\displaystyle {\hat {\mathbf {b} }}}$ is the unit vector in the direction of ${\displaystyle \mathbf {b} ,}$ ${\displaystyle \left\|\mathbf {a} \right\|}$ is the length of ${\displaystyle \mathbf {a} ,}$ and ${\displaystyle \theta }$ is the angle between ${\displaystyle \mathbf {a} }$ and ${\displaystyle \mathbf {b} }$.

Reciprocal lattice is a concept associated with solids with translational symmetry which plays a major role in many areas such as X-ray and electron diffraction as well as the energies of electrons in a solid. It emerges from the Fourier transform of the lattice associated with the arrangement of the atoms. The direct lattice or real lattice is a periodic function in physical space, such as a crystal system (usually a Bravais lattice). The reciprocal lattice exists in the mathematical space of spatial frequencies or wavenumbers k, known as reciprocal space or k space; it is the dual of physical space considered as a vector space. In other words, the reciprocal lattice is the sublattice which is dual to the direct lattice.

The reciprocal lattice is the set of all vectors ${\displaystyle \mathbf {G} _{m}}$, that are wavevectors k of plane waves in the Fourier series of a spatial function whose periodicity is the same as that of a direct lattice ${\displaystyle \mathbf {R} _{n}}$. Each plane wave in this Fourier series has the same phase or phases that are differed by multiples of ${\displaystyle 2\pi }$, at each direct lattice point (so essentially same phase at all the direct lattice points).