vectororiented

Vectororiented is a term used to describe approaches, methods, or systems that are guided by vectors or vector representations. The core idea is to treat information, quantities, or computations as vector entities within a vector space, and to base analysis and reasoning on linear-algebraic methods.

In mathematics and physics, vectororiented methods emphasize using vectors and vector operations, such as addition, scaling, inner and outer products, projections, and changes of basis. Problems are often reformulated in terms of coordinates relative to a basis, enabling techniques from linear algebra to simplify solutions. In physics, this aligns with resolving quantities into components along chosen directions.

In computer science and data science, vectororiented design typically refers to data models and algorithms that operate on high-dimensional vectors or feature embeddings. Vector representations enable efficient computation through vectorization, SIMD, and parallel hardware. Common practices include using feature vectors in machine learning, normalizing inputs, and performing linear transformations via matrix multiplication.

Relation and terminology: The term is not standardized and may overlap with vector-based, vectorized, or vector-first concepts. In practice, the meaning is often determined by context, particularly distinguishing between abstract vector spaces and concrete vector data.

See also: vector, linear algebra, vector space, vectorization, embedding, SIMD, feature engineering.