A member of the underlying field of a vector space. E.g. in , the underlying field is , and a scalar is a member of , i.e. a real number.
Articles by others on the same topic
In mathematics, a scalar is a single number used to measure a quantity. Scalars are often contrasted with vectors, which have both magnitude and direction. Scalars can represent various quantities such as temperature, mass, energy, time, and speed, among others. Some key characteristics of scalars include: 1. **Magnitude Only**: Scalars have only magnitude; they do not have a direction associated with them.