Appendix a Tensor Mathematics
Appendix A Tensor Mathematics A.l Introduction In physics we are accustomed to relating quantities to other quantities by means of mathematical expressions. The quantities that represent physical properties of a point or of an infinitesimal volume in space may be of a single numerical value without direction, such as temperature, mass, speed, dist ance, specific gravity, energy, etc.; they are defined by a single magnitude and we call them scalars. Other physical quantities have direction as well and their magnitude is represented by an array of numerical values, their number corresponding to the number of dimensions of the space, three numerical values in a three-dimensional space; such quantities are called vectors, for example velocity, acceleration, force, etc., and the three numerical values are the components of the vector in the direction of the coordinates of the space. Still other physical quantities such as moment of inertia, stress, strain, permeability coefficients, electric flux, electromagnetic flux, etc., are repre sented in a three-dimensional space by nine numerical quantities, called components, and are known as tensors. We will introduce a slightly different definition. We shall call the scalars tensors of order zero, vectors - tensors of order one and tensors with nine components - tensors of order two. There are, of course, in physics and mathematics, tensors of higher order. Tensors of order three have an array of 27 components and tensors of order four have 81 components and so on. Couple stresses that arise in materials with polar forces are examples of tensors of order three, and the Riemann curvature tensor that appears in geodesics is an example of a tensor of order four.
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