Vectors and Coordinate Systems

Abstract

The concept of distance (or length) is the first of the basic physical entities which constitute the foundation on which we build the body of knowledge (consisting of laws and derived measurable quantities) called science. In the previous chapter we did not attempt to define the distance concept but, instead, gave a precise physical procedure for obtaining a number which we call the distance between two points. We also introduced the angle concept to permit us to measure rotation. But the angle concept permits us to introduce another important idea—that of direction—which leads to an extension of the distance concept.

’Tis strange—but true; for truth is always strange; Stranger than fiction

—lord byron, Don Juan