scalar
Noun · AdjectiveOpen English WordNet
Noun (1)
- a variable quantity that cannot be resolved into componentsType of variable, variable quantity
Adjective (2)
- of or relating to a musical scale“he played some basic scalar patterns on his guitar”Relating to musical scale
- of or relating to a directionless magnitude (such as mass or speed etc.) that is completely specified by its magnitude“scalar quantity”Relating to scale
What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz
Webster's Dictionary (1913)
Mathematics In the quaternion analysis, a quantity that has magnitude, but not direction; — distinguished from a vector, which has both magnitude and direction.
Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54
Free On-line Dictionary of Computing
1.<mathematics> 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.<architecture> 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.<programming> 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).
(2002-06-12)