# Talk:Coordinate vector

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Field: Algebra

## Dumb Question

Shouldn't it be written this way,

$v = \alpha _1 B_1 + \alpha _2 B_2 + \cdots + \alpha _n B_n$,

i.e., With the $B_i$ all capitalized? They are vectors after all.192.55.12.36 (talk) 21:39, 22 April 2008 (UTC)

The names of vectors are not normally capitalised in my experience. Sometimes (generally in applied mathematics) they are bolded or underlined, but often they're just in lowercase italics, as here. Algebraist 17:18, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

## Definition

I read this page while trying to gain an understanding of what a coordinate vector was, and the initial definition really did not help me; it uses the word vector in it which is what I'm trying to define, e.g. it is partly read like this: 'A coordinate vector is... ...a vector...' This does not help me because there is no link on the word vector and typing it in just brings me to a disambiguation page.Dood77 (talk) 15:39, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

I think you are confused because the article uses "vector" to mean two different things: Sometimes it means a member of a vector space, and sometimes it means a matrix with just one column or just one row. I think the article could be changed to make the different meanings more obvious, but I don't think that I am the right person to fix it; I'm too much of a tyro.192.55.12.36 (talk) 20:16, 25 April 2008 (UTC)

## naming/merge

I'm unilaterally renaming this page from "coordinates vector" to "coordinate vector", which makes better sense and seems to be the consensus on Google. Melchoir 05:02, 10 November 2005 (UTC)

Perhaps it should be merged with coordinate space? Jorge Stolfi 12:57, 4 January 2006 (UTC)
Yeah, I'd support that merge, although I wouldn't want to do it myself! The Discussion section of Coordinate space is a good target. Melchoir 05:34, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
I'm not sure a merge there would be a good idea. I would rather see this page moved to coordinate representation and have it dicuss coordinate representations of vectors, dual-vectors, and linear transformations in a unified manner. It could then discuss coordinate transformations which would just look confusing in the page on coordinate space. The treatement in the coordinate space article should serve to complement what should be here. -- Fropuff 06:40, 5 January 2006 (UTC)
Or maybe row vector and column vector should be merged into coordinate vector. Duoduoduo (talk) 18:49, 12 December 2011 (UTC)

## Questionable restriction in the definition

1. A coordinate vector is not necessarily a matrix. In this case, you can use the notation v = (v1, v2, ..., vn), in which the coordinates are not supposed to be elements of a matrix, but just a generic ordered set.
2. When you define it as a matrix, it must not necessarily be a column matrix (column vector).

I have seen many people (in computer graphics, for instance) who prefer using row vectors (and this entails post-multiplication by basis transformation matrices, rather than pre-multiplication). Thus, there are two different and equally valid conventions, referred to as "column vector" and "row vector" conventions. None of them can be shown to be objectiely preferable. I am not even sure that the first is more commonly used than the second. Paolo.dL (talk) 09:37, 4 June 2008 (UTC)