Why can two forces of 6 N and 8 N add up to anything between 2 N and 14 N, depending on their directions?
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Scalars versus vectors
Define a scalar as a single number with units, define a vector as magnitude plus direction requiring three numbers in space, and list mass, temperature, force and momentum as instances.
The four properties of vector addition
Draw the head-to-tail and parallelogram constructions of , then state commutativity, associativity, the identity , and the inverse of equal magnitude.
Scalar multiplication and the unit vector
Record with direction kept for and reversed for , the two distributive laws, and the check .