Vectors Introduction

This interactive resource, produced by the University of Leicester, is designed to enable students to explore vectors, beginning with the definition of a vector followed by the algebra of vectors and the scalar product. The opening slides of the presentation explain the difference between scalar and vector quantities followed by a simple activity. The first presentation explains the properties of vectors including line vectors, free vectors, the modulus of a vector, equal vectors, negative vectors, multiplying a vector by a scalar quantity, unit vectors and the angle between two vectors. The second presentation explains Cartesian vectors, introducing i, j and k unit vectors followed by an interactive page looking at different vector notation in two dimensions. The algebra of vectors covers the addition of vectors, multiplication by a scalar and the magnitude of a vector. The scalar product presentation shows how the scalar product can be used to calculate the angle between two vectors, followed by an interactive page where students can explore for themselves.