Object Details
maker
Baker, Richard P.
Description
This painted wire model is one of several hundred designed by Richard P. Baker, a British-born mathematics professor at the University of Iowa. It illustrates the addition of vectors - quantities that have both magnitude and direction. Vectors are commonly associated with such physical variables as velocity and force, and have been used under that name from the late nineteenth century.
To find the sum of two vectors, one commonly places them head to tail, as in this model. The sum is represented by the magnitude and direction of the vector joining the tail of the first vector to the head of the second. As the order in which vectors are added doesn't matter, a parallelogram represents two ways of finding the sum, tie the diagonal of the parallelogram representing the sum itself.
Location
Currently not on view
Credit Line
Gift of Frances E. Baker
date made
ca 1906-1935
ID Number
MA.211257.085
catalog number
211257.085
accession number
211257
Object Name
geometric model
Physical Description
metal (overall material)
red (overall color)
black (overall color)
blue (overall color)
white (overall color)
soldered. (overall production method/technique)
Measurements
average spatial: .1 cm x 14.4 cm x 9.4 cm; 1/32 in x 5 21/32 in x 3 11/16 in
See more items in
Medicine and Science: Mathematics
Science & Mathematics
Data Source
National Museum of American History
Subject
Mathematics
Link to Original Record
Record ID
nmah_1087048