Question

What are Tensors?

I read in wiki 'Tensors are geometric objects that describe linear relations between vectors, scalars, and other tensors' but I don't quite understand what it means by linear relations, and how is a 'geometric object' represented? a matrix? so does that mean a tensor is a matrix? help

Answer 1

tensor is an entity between a scalar and vector...it is generally a concept too complex to study even in college...it can be represented by a matrix...infact matrices were first developed for expressing tensors

Answer 2

thanks for replying.. i'm not sure what you mean by entity between a scalar and a vector, does it map a scalar to a vector? (isn't that just a vector field?) how does the matrix describe the tensor? a list of vertices? sorry for all the questions

Answer 3

its like a vector which has multiple directions..u can think of it aS a generalization of a vector, but with multiple directions..so a scalar is a zero-rank tensor, a vector a one-rank tensor, as it has a unique direction, a dyad a two-rank tensor, and so on
an n-rank tensor is represented by an nxn matrix

Answer 4

ah i think i understand now, thank you very much for your help (is there anyway to give you a 'medal' or such?)

Answer 5

yeah..right side..of my name..w8..ive got smthn fr u

Answer 6

like it?

Answer 7

Thank you! That's very useful! :)

Answer 8

complicated 2