2 Drawing with 2D vectors

You probably already have some intuition for what it means to be two-dimensional or three-dimensional. A two-dimensional (2D) object is flat like an image on a piece of paper or a computer screen. It has only the dimensions of height and width. A three-dimensional (3D) object in our physical world, however, has not only height and width but also depth.

Models of 2D and 3D entities are important in programming. Anything that shows up on the screen of your phone, tablet, or PC is a 2D object, occupying some width and height of pixels. Any simulation, game, or animation that represents the physical world is stored as 3D data and eventually projected to the two dimensions of the screen. In virtual and augmented reality applications, the 3D models must be paired with real, measured 3D data about the user’s position and perspective.

2.1 Picturing 2D vectors

2.1.1 Representing 2D vectors

2.1.2 2D drawing in Python

2.1.3 Exercises

2.2 Plane vector arithmetic

2.2.1 Vector components and lengths

2.2.2 Multiplying vectors by numbers

2.2.3 Subtraction, displacement, and distance

2.2.4 Exercises

2.3 Angles and trigonometry in the plane

2.3.1 From angles to components

2.3.2 Radians and trigonometry in Python

2.3.3  From components back to angles

2.3.4  Exercises

2.4 Transforming collections of vectors