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A physical measurement that contains directional information.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Physical Science''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1999, 2000</ref>
A '''vector quantity''' is a measurement that contains both magnitude<ref>Stewart, James. ''Calculus: Early Transcendentals. Brooks/Cole, 2008</ref> and directional information,.<ref>Wile, Dr. Jay L. ''Exploring Creation With Physical Science''. Apologia Educational Ministries, Inc. 1999, 2000</ref> It is different from a [[scalar quantity]], which contains only magnitude.
Force is an example of a vector quantity, because it includes both a magnitude (push) and a direction (the direction the force is in). For example, when an airplane is taking off, the air under the wings is exerting a force in an upward direction, gravity is exerting a force in a downward direction, the engine is exerting a force pushing the plane forward, while winds may be exerting forces from side to side.
Temperature is an example of a scalar quantity. The temperature is simply a number of units: normal body temperature is 37° Celsius. You can't speak of an upward temperature, or a northeast temperature; it has no direction. The temperature [[trend]] however does have a direction ([[up]] or [[down]]).
For more detail on vectors, see [[vector space]].
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[[Category:Physics]]
[[Category:Mathematics]]
[[Category:Mathematics]]