Parable of a Vector
Main Idea: Vectors give magnitude and direction
There lived three brothers who were several years apart in age. The oldest brother, Magnus, was immensely popular. He had a sparkling personality, brilliant in school, extremely athletic, wonderful artist; in a word he was magnificent. So much that he was called Magnus the Magnificent. Everyone noticed him. Yet for all his abilities, he had no idea what he wanted to do with his life. He lacked direction. He thought, I could go anywhere and do anything I want, but yet he never actually decided on anything He never directed any of his talents or skills to accomplish anything and soon his life quickly fizzled out without having done a single significant act, like a brilliant firework that quickly fades.
The middle brother, Deric, watched his older brother’s magnificence go to waste and he decided that he was going to go somewhere with his life. He was directed by his father to go into culinary school and become a chef like his father was. So Deric went on a straight to become a chef, not deterring once. He went through all the steps to be a chef, but yet for all his training, every time he pulled something out of an oven it tasted like burned brussel sprouts. (Which if you’ve never had, they are truly horrific). Deric simply had no ability for cooking anything at al. He would come into a kitchen and the mixing spoons would cringe at the thought that they would soon become accomplices to his abominable creations. Yet for his ineptitude, Deric never left cooking, even though the only job he could manage was cooking for a local animal shelter… much to the disappointment of several animals. But his determination earned him the nickname of Deric the Directed.
The youngest brother, Victor, watched his older brothers make complete fools of themselves and decided that he was not going to make such atrocious decisions with his life. Ever since Victor was little, he liked watching things that moved; cars, trains, planes, etc. Growing up and throughout school he found he wasn’t good at everything like his brother Magnus, but he was good at building things, particularly motors. So he decided to pursue Engineering. He did well in his track through school and continued on to make excellent motors that would allow cars to accelerate or go at constant velocity. Victor had both the ability and direction in his life so that he became very happy and successful enough to support his two poor brothers. He became know at Victor the Victorious.
Follow up questions:
-Who can interpret my story?
-What can I describe if I know I have 20N?
-What can I describe if I know I East?
-What can I describe if I know 20 N East?