meaning of scalar

1. In the quaternion analysis, a quantity that has magnitude, but not direction; -- distinguished from a vector, which has both magnitude and direction.
2. scalar 1. A single number, as opposed to a vector or matrix of numbers. Thus, for example, "scalar multiplication" refers to the operation of multiplying one number one scalar by another and is used to contrast this with "matrix multiplication" etc. 2. In a parallel processor or vector processor, the "scalar processor" handles all the sequential operations - those which cannot be parallelised or vectorised. See also superscalar. 3. Any data type that stores a single value e. g. a number or Boolean, as opposed to an aggregate data type that has many elements. A string is regarded as a scalar in some languages e. g. Perl and a vector of characters in others e. g. C.
3. a variable quantity that cannot be resolved into components

Related Words

scalar | scalar field | scalar matrix | scalar product | scalaria | scalariform | scalary |

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