Vector

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Vector \Vec"tor\, n. [L., a bearer, carrier. fr. vehere, vectum,
     to carry.]
     1. Same as {Radius vector}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     2. (Math.) A directed quantity, as a straight line, a force,


        or a velocity. Vectors are said to be equal when their
        directions are the same and their magnitudes equal. Cf.
        {Scalar}.
        [1913 Webster]
  
     Note: In a triangle, either side is the vector sum of the
           other two sides taken in proper order; the process
           finding the vector sum of two or more vectors is vector
           addition (see under {Addition}).
           [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  vector
       n 1: a variable quantity that can be resolved into components
       2: a straight line segment whose length is magnitude and whose
          orientation in space is direction
       3: any agent (person or animal or microorganism) that carries
          and transmits a disease; "mosquitos are vectors of malaria
          and yellow fever"; "fleas are vectors of the plague";
          "aphids are transmitters of plant diseases"; "when medical
          scientists talk about vectors they are usually talking
          about insects" [syn: {transmitter}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  66 Moby Thesaurus words for "vector":
     aerial infection, air line, airborne infection, axis, azimuth,
     beeline, biological vector, carrier, chord, communicability,
     compass bearing, compass direction, contagion, contagiousness,
     contamination, course, cryptogenic infection, diagonal, diameter,
     direct infection, direct line, directrix, droplet infection,
     dust infection, edge, epidemiology, great-circle course,
     hand infection, heading, indirect infection, infection,
     infectiousness, lee side, magnetic bearing, mechanical vector,
     normal, perpendicular, phytogenic infection, primary infection,
     pyogenic infection, radius, radius vector, relative bearing,
     right line, secant, secondary infection, segment, shortcut, side,
     straight, straight course, straight line, straight stretch,
     straightaway, streamline, subclinical infection, tack, taint,
     tangent, transversal, true bearing, vehicle, virus,
     waterborne infection, weather side, zoogenic infection
  
  

From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) [foldoc]:

  vector
       
          1.  A member of a {vector space}.
       
          2.  A line or movement defined by its end points, or
          by the current position and one other point.  See {vector
          graphics}.
       
          3.  A memory location containing the address
          of some code, often some kind of {exception} handler or other
          {operating system} service.  By changing the vector to point
          to a different piece of code it is possible to modify the
          behaviour of the operating system.
       
          Compare {hook}.
       
          4.  A one-dimensional {array}.
       
          (1996-09-30)