Vectors in Real Life

  I usually teach vectors about once every other year and usually when I have to teach a semester or two of physics because its easy to integrate vectors there but easier than in Math.  Vectors are one of those topics that are much harder to teach without a context.

I had to do a bit of research so I can teach it in my College Prep math class.  I needed to know more about their use in the real world because its important to show relationships and connections.

Many of the ways vectors are used in real life are done so without using the word vector.  This is a good thing to shae with students. So on to the way vectors are used in real life.

1.  Air traffic controllers give pilots a specific heading (direction) with a specific distance (magnitude) along the planned route.Vectors are also used in flight patterns to take into account the wind blowing with or against or cross the plane's flight.

2.Vectors are used to aim cannons and other heavy artillery.

3. In baseball, any player must run in a certain direction going a certain distance in order to intercept a ball.  The player also has to predict where the ball will be to catch it, not aim for where it is now.

4. In basketball, football and golf, the player uses vectors to determine the trajectory of the ball in order to make a basket, get it to the right player to get it to the goal or in the hole.  In football, the quarterback must take his own movement into account, the receiver's movement and the path of ball, all of which can be represented by vector arrows.

5.  When someone asks for directions, they are given them via vectors such as two blocks left, then three blocks right.

6.  Many video games such as Angry Birds use vectors in the shooting of birds at objects.  The vectors include the amount of the pull used to launch the bird and  the angle of launch.  This is actually the most relevant use of vectors for my students.  Vectors are used in video game development to describe the location of an objects or physical simulations of objects.

There you have it, six different situations where vectors are used.  No one thinks of arrows or directions with speed but they use it every day instinctively.  If people want they can create a diagram of a football play off of the television or a shot from a basketball game but we know what we are doing without knowing all the proper mathematical terms.

Let me know what you think.  I'd love to hear.

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