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This might be a dumb question but I am stuck halfway through an assignment where I am supposed to draw a bunch of vector fields because I don't understand an element of the notation.

The equation that is causing me trouble is the one below, describing a vector field in the plane, not including (0,0).

$\textbf{v}= \frac{-Ay}{r^2}\textbf{i}+\frac{Ax}{r^2}\textbf{j}; r^2=x^2+y^2$

The assignment does not include any addition on the capital A, so I assume that it has some conventional use that I am not familiar with?

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  • $\begingroup$ It looks like an arbitrary constant. $\endgroup$
    – David K
    Feb 18, 2021 at 13:04
  • $\begingroup$ it appears to just be a scalar constant. $\endgroup$
    – lulu
    Feb 18, 2021 at 13:04
  • $\begingroup$ People may have trouble understanding the question (or may simply not try) due to the notation. To fix this, start here: math.stackexchange.com/help/notation $\endgroup$
    – David K
    Feb 18, 2021 at 13:05
  • $\begingroup$ Could it be $A_y$ and $A_x$, the components of a vector $A$? $\endgroup$
    – MasB
    Feb 18, 2021 at 13:05
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    $\begingroup$ This is the type of question you should be asking whoever gave you that assignment. A bunch of strangers guessing could hardly offer you a sensible answer $\endgroup$
    – Yuriy S
    Feb 18, 2021 at 13:15

1 Answer 1

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If nothing else is said about it, I would assume $A$ is meant to be an arbitrary real number. For the drawing, I would assume $A > 0,$ since for $A=0$ you get a zero vector field and for $A < 0$ all the vectors will reverse direction.

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