In math and physics, a vector is a quantity that has both size and direction, like a force or velocity. In biology and health, a vector is an animal or insect that carries and spreads disease.
From Latin 'vector', meaning 'carrier' or 'bearer', from 'vehere' meaning 'to carry'. The idea of something that 'carries' fits both the mathematical sense (carrying magnitude and direction) and the medical sense (carrying germs).
The math vector and the mosquito vector are actually the same idea: something that carries something else. Once you see vectors as ‘arrows that carry effects’, diagrams in physics start to look like little delivery trucks of push and pull. It’s one of those rare words that unites math, biology, and engineering.
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