Vector Analysis Terms on
Earliest Known Uses of Some of
the Words of Mathematics
Earliest Uses of Some of the
Symbols of Mathematics
The following is a list of
entries relating to vector analysis (or calculus) that appear on the Earliest Uses pages. Entries on the Words page are organised by letter of the alphabet. Calculus
indicates there is related material on Earliest Uses of Symbols of
Calculus. Vector indicates material Earliest Uses of Symbols for
Vectors and Matirices.
See also the index of terms used in Matrices and Linear Allgebra.and in Calculus and Analysis
Absolute differential calculus Convergence Cross product Curl |
Del Calculus Differentiable manifold Differential Differential form Differential geometry Differential topology Directional derivative Divergence Calculus Divergence theorem Dot product Dyad |
E
Einstein summation conventionExact differential |
G
Gaussian curvature Gradient Calculus Green’s theorem |
Inner product
|
L
Laplacian Line integral |
Nabla Calculus Outer product |
P
Partial derivative Calculus Potential function |
Q
Quaternion |
S
Scalar terms (see vector entries) Stokes’s theorem Surface integral Tensor, tensor analysis, etc.
|
V
Vector, vector analysis, vector space Vector & scalar Vector Vector analysis Vector field Vector triple product
|
|
History
Vector analysis was created in the late 19th century when Hamilton’s quaternion system was adapted to the needs of physics by Clifford, Tait, Maxwell, Heaviside, Gibbs and others. Many earlier results obtained by Lagrange, Gauss, Green and others on hydrodynamics, sound and electricity, were then re-expressed in terms of vector analysis. Many of the vector analysis topics are now taught in courses on the “calculus on manifolds.”
John Aldrich,