Vectors: Understanding the Fundamentals
When working with computers and technology, it is essential to understand the underlying concepts that make them work. One of these concepts is vectors. This article will explore what vectors are, why they are important, and how they’re used in real-world applications.
What is a vector?
A vector is an ordered set of numbers representing an object. Each number in a vector represents a different characteristic of that object. For example, if we are representing a car, the first number could represent engine capacity, the second number could represent the number of doors, the third number could b no seats, and so on. The length of the vector depends on how many numbers are needed to represent the object adequately. In this case, if three properties are enough to represent a car, we would have a three-dimensional vector for every car.
Why do we need vectors?
The reason is that computers do not understand real-world objects but do understand numbers. A computer can understand the object by converting objects like a car into numbers. This enables us to use computers in many real-world applications.
One example of this is determining which cars are similar. It might be easy for us to identify, but a computer can not process this information independently. By representing each car as a three-dimensional vector, with the first number being the engine capacity, the second number being the number of doors, and the third number being the number of seats, a computer can now determine which car is most similar by running simple distance calculations.
Vectors are also used in natural language processing. A vector can represent a word, and algorithms like word2vec or GloVe take English words and map them to vectors with hundreds of dimensions. Each number on its own may not make sense to humans, but a computer needs to represent the meaning of the word as a whole.
In conclusion, vectors are an important concept in computer science and technology. They allow computers to understand real-world objects by representing them as sets of numbers. Understanding the fundamentals of vectors can significantly enhance your understanding of how computers and technology work.
