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Vector vs Ray - What's the difference?

vector | ray |

In mathematics terms the difference between vector and ray

is that vector is any member of a (generalized) vector space while ray is a line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.

As a proper noun Ray is

{{surname|from=nicknames}} from a Middle English nickname meaning a king or a roe.

vector

English

(wikify) (wikipedia vector)

Noun

(en noun)
  • (mathematics) A directed quantity, one with both magnitude and direction; the signed difference between two points.
  • *
  • (mathematics) An ordered tuple representing a directed quantity or the (soplink) between two points.
  • (mathematics) Any member of a (generalized) vector space.
    • The vectors in {\mathbb Q}[X] are the single-variable polynomials with rational coefficients: one is x^{42}+\frac1{137}x-1.
  • (aviation) A chosen course or direction for motion, as of an aircraft.
  • (senseid)(epidemiology) A carrier of a disease-causing agent.
  • (sociology) A person or entity that passes along an urban legend or other meme.
  • (psychology) A recurring psychosocial issue that stimulates growth and development in the personality.
  • The way in which the eyes are drawn across the visual text. The trail that a book cover can encourage the eyes to follow from certain objects to others.
  • (computing, operating systems) A memory address containing the address of a code entry point, usually one which is part of a table and often one that is dereferenced]] and [[jump, jumped to during the execution of an interrupt.
  • (programming) A one-dimensional array.

    • Usage notes

    * (programming) The term is used loosely when the indices are not (either positive or non-negative) integers.

    Hypernyms

    *

    Hyponyms

    * * * * * * * (hyp-mid3) * * * * * * * (hyp-mid3) * * * ) * * * (hyp-bottom)

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * *

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To set (particularly an aircraft) on a course toward a selected point.
  • * 1994 , Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, Tendencies
    • if love is vectored toward an object and Elinor's here flies toward Marianne, Marianne's in turn toward Willoughby.

    References

    * The New Oxford Dictionary of English

    Anagrams

    * ----

    ray

    English

    Etymology 1

    Via (etyl), from (etyl) rai, from (etyl) .

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A beam of light or radiation.
    • I saw a ray of light through the clouds.
  • (zoology) A rib-like reinforcement of bone or cartilage in a fish's fin.
  • (zoology) One of the spheromeres of a radiate, especially one of the arms of a starfish or an ophiuran.
  • (botany) A radiating part of a flower or plant; the marginal florets of a compound flower, such as an aster or a sunflower; one of the pedicels of an umbel or other circular flower cluster; radius.
  • (obsolete) Sight; perception; vision; from an old theory of vision, that sight was something which proceeded from the eye to the object seen.
  • * Alexander Pope
    • All eyes direct their rays / On him, and crowds turn coxcombs as they gaze.
  • (mathematics) A line extending indefinitely in one direction from a point.
  • (colloquial) A tiny amount.
    • Unfortunately he didn't have a ray of hope .
    Derived terms
    * death ray * gamma ray * manta ray * ray gun * stingray * X-ray

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To emit something as if in rays.
  • To radiate as if in rays
    • (Elizabeth Barrett Browning)

    Etymology 2

    (etyl) (m), from (etyl) (m).

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A marine fish with a flat body, large wing-like fins, and a whip-like tail.

    • Etymology 3

    Shortened from array.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • (obsolete) To arrange.
  • (obsolete) To stain or soil; to defile.
  • * 1596 , (Edmund Spenser), The Faerie Queene , VI.4:
    • From his soft eyes the teares he wypt away, / And form his face the filth that did it ray .

    Etymology 4

    From its sound, by analogy with the letters chay, jay, gay, kay, which it resembles graphically.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The name of the letter ?/?, one of two which represent the r sound in Pitman shorthand.
    • Related terms
    * ar, in Latin and the name of the other Pitman r

    Etymology 5

    Noun

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Array; order; arrangement; dress.
  • * Spenser
    • And spoiling all her gears and goodly ray .

    Etymology 6

    Alternative forms.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music)

    • Anagrams

    * English terms with multiple etymologies ----