Definition: | any of the n scalar quantities in the representation of a vector quantity Q as the linear combination of the base vectors Note 1 to entry: Instead of treating each component of a vector quantity as a quantity (i.e. the product of a numerical value and a unit of measurement), the vector quantity Q may be represented as a vector of numerical values multiplied by the unit: where are numerical values, is the unit, and are the unit vectors. Similar considerations apply to tensor quantities. Note 2 to entry: The components of a vector quantity are transformed by a coordinate transformation like the coordinates of a position vector. Note 3 to entry: The term "coordinate" is generally used when the vector quantity is a position vector. This usage is consistent with the definition of the coordinates of a vector in mathematics (IEV 102-03-09).
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