Comment on Explain yourselves, comp sci.

sanosuke001@lemmynsfw.com ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

• deaf_fish@lemm.ee ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Maybe they mean std::vector in C++?

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  • NorthWestWind@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

    It’s a terrible name. The math answer is what I would give.

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    • expr@programming.dev ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      It’s not a terrible name, since it’s derived from the mathematical construct of vectors as n-tuples. In the case of vectors in programming, n relates to the size of the underlying array, and the tuple consists of the elements of the vector.

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      • NorthWestWind@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

        That makes sense.

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    • ulterno@lemmy.kde.social ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

      I myself was confused, when I first saw what a vector did in practice.
      Really bad name.

      But then I didn’t take Comp Sci.

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• Eatspancakes84@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  The only correct answer for a 101 introduction. It’s an incredible powerful intuition even in contexts where vectors are seemingly used as a list of numbers.

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• SorryQuick@lemmy.ca ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  You can also define a vector by the equivalent “sides of the right triangle”. In 2D, the x,y coordinates. In computer science, vectors are n-tuples, so they represent a math/physics vector but in n-dimensions.

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• solarbabies@lemmy.world ⁨6⁩ ⁨months⁩ ago

  Yes, and as linear algebra teaches, to convert a vector from direction and magnitude to a list of numbers (components), follow these steps:

  1. Let the magnitude of the vector be represented by the symbol |A| or A.
  2. Let the direction of the vector be represented by the angle θ, which is measured counterclockwise from the positive x-axis.
  3. The x-component of the vector is given by: Ax = |A| cos(θ)
  4. The y-component of the vector is given by: Ay = |A| sin(θ)

  The vector can now be represented as a list of numbers: A = (Ax, Ay)

  For example, if a vector has a magnitude of 5 units and a direction of 30° counterclockwise from the positive x-axis, its components would be:

  Ax = 5 cos(30°) ≈ 4.33 units Ay = 5 sin(30°) ≈ 2.50 units

  The vector can now be written as A = (4.33, 2.50)

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