Vector

A vector is used to describe a translation. The word vector comes from a Latin word vehere meaning carrier. This fits in very well with our definition of translation which came from Latin meaning the ‘action of changing something by carrying it’.

Translations involve a movement on the x axis and a movement on the y axis.

These movements are described by vectors that are written like this

This means carry a point to the right and up. and can be negative numbers which would reverse the direction of travel.

To describe a movement of three to the right and one up, we would use the vector

To describe a movement of three to the left and one down, we would use the vector