OT: Question for physics majors

[Ted King]

I have searched the internet for an answer to this question, but haven't found information that is clear: In a vector diagram was is the "beginning point" called?

[TheTominator]

the "origin"?

Or maybe a more common name is the "position".

[D-Rod]

http://www.mountainman.com.au/maxwell1.html

Article 8 - Vectors

The expression AB, in geometry, is merely the name of a line. Here it indicates the operation by which the line is drawn, that of carrying a tracing point in a certain direction for a certain distance. As indicting an operation, AB is called a Vector, and the operation is completely defined by the direction and distance of the transference. The starting point, which is called the Origin of the vector, may be anywhere. To define a finite straight line we must state its origin as well as its direction and length. All vectors, however, are regarded as equl which are parallel (and drawn towards the same parts) and of the same magnitude. Any quantity, such, for instance, as a veloecity or a force, which has a definite direction and a definite magnitude may be treated as a vector, and may be indicated in a diagram by a straight line whose direction is parallel to the vector, and whose length represents, according to a determinate scale, the magnitude of the vector. [Contents]

[Will Collier]

Check this out. You won't think it's all that funny unless you ever had to take a physics lab in college:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html

[sscutchen]

[quote Will Collier]Check this out. You won't think it's all that funny unless you ever had to take a physics lab in college:

http://www.cs.wisc.edu/~kovar/hall.html
THAT was freaking AWESOME! I sent it to my kids, colleagues and a friend of my son that just finished Freshman Physics at Texas A&M.

[Racer X]

That's getting printed out and taken to the bar, where I drink with 3 engineers. This should be funny.

[Ted King]

Thanks TheTominator and Dennis R. "Origin" is what I thought, too, but then I keep running into web sites that say other things - like:

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/ve...U3L1a.html

"an arrow (with arrowhead) is drawn in a specified direction; thus, the vector has a head and a tail"

[indicating that the "head" is the end with the arrowhead and the other end (beginning) as the tail]

It's a small thing, I suppose, but it bugs me that I can't get a definitive answer for the question.