What is a vector? - David Huynh
1,974,188 Views
11,770 Questions Answered
Let’s Begin…
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?
Sign in to answer questionAbout TED-Ed Animations
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