scalar (redirected from Scalar quantities)

scalar, quantity or number possessing only sign and magnitude, e.g., the real numbers (see number), in contrast to vectors and tensors; scalars obey the rules of elementary algebra. Many physical quantities have scalar values, e.g., length, area, mass, energy, and electric charge. Such quantities as velocity, force, momentum, and spin are vectors and follow different algebraic rules.

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scalar

A single item or value. Contrast with vector and array, which are made up of multiple values.

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scalar

1. a quantity, such as time or temperature, that has magnitude but not direction

2. Maths an element of a field associated with a vector space

3. having magnitude but not direction

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1.	(mathematics)	scalar - A single number, as opposed to a vector or matrix of numbers. Thus, for example, "scalar multiplication" refers to the operation of multiplying one number (one scalar) by another and is used to contrast this with "matrix multiplication" etc.
2.	(architecture)	scalar - In a parallel processor or vector processor, the "scalar processor" handles all the sequential operations - those which cannot be parallelised or vectorised. See also superscalar.
3.	(programming)	scalar - Any data type that stores a single value (e.g. a number or Boolean), as opposed to an aggregate data type that has many elements. A string is regarded as a scalar in some languages (e.g. Perl) and a vector of characters in others (e.g. C).