vectorial

Vectorial is an adjective meaning related to vectors or described by vectors. In mathematics and physics, a vectorial quantity has both magnitude and direction, in contrast to scalar quantities that have magnitude only. The term is used to describe objects whose values are vectors, such as vector-valued functions, vector fields, and vector spaces. In calculus and analysis, vectorial calculus (vector calculus) studies operations on vector fields, including gradient, divergence, and curl, and underpins theories in electromagnetism, fluid dynamics, and mechanics.

Vector-valued functions assign a vector to each point in a domain, for example r(t) = (x(t), y(t), z(t)). A vector field assigns a vector to each point in a spatial region, such as a velocity field v(x).

In computer graphics, vectorial or vector graphics refers to images represented by geometric primitives—points, lines, curves, and shapes—defined by mathematical equations rather than pixels. Vector graphics can be scaled without loss of quality and are common for logos, typography, and technical illustrations. Typical formats include SVG, EPS, and PDF. By contrast, raster graphics store information per pixel and may lose quality when enlarged.

In linguistics and data science, vectorial or vector-based approaches encode meaning or data as vectors in a high-dimensional space, enabling similarity computations and machine learning applications.

Overall, vectorial emphasizes the role of vectors in describing, analyzing, or representing objects and phenomena across disciplines.