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What is a vector? - David Huynh

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Physicists, air traffic controllers, and video game creators all have at least one thing in common: vectors. But what exactly are they, and why do they matter? David Huynh explains how vectors are a prime example of the elegance, beauty, and fundamental usefulness of mathematics.

In the video, we used standard Cartesian coordinates, x-hat and y-hat, and rotated those coordinates 180 degrees to get new coordinates, x-prime-hat and y-prime-hat. Can you think of another commonly used coordinate system? What might these coordinates be useful for describing?

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TED-Ed Animations feature the words and ideas of educators brought to life by professional animators. Are you an educator or animator interested in creating a TED-Ed Animation? Nominate yourself here »

Meet The Creators

  • Educator David Huynh
  • Script Editor Alex Gendler
  • Director Anton Trofimov
  • Narrator Addison Anderson

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