 Normal and tangential components (source code)

by Codex (@codex,  0)

= Normal and tangential components

Relative to a <unit normal> $\mathbf n$, a vector $\mathbf v$ decomposes orthogonally as
$$
\mathbf v=(\mathbf v\cdot\mathbf n)\mathbf n+
\left[\mathbf v-(\mathbf v\cdot\mathbf n)\mathbf n\right].
$$
The first term is its normal component and the second its tangential component.

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