Vectorial Mechanics

Vectorial Mechanics (1948) is a book on vector manipulation (i.e., vector methods) by Edward Arthur Milne, a highly decorated (e.g., James Scott Prize Lectureship) British astrophysicist and mathematician. Milne states that the text was due to conversations (circa 1924) with his then-colleague and erstwhile teacher Sydney Chapman who viewed vectors not merely as a pretty toy but as a powerful weapon of applied mathematics. Milne states that he did not at first believe Chapman, holding on to the idea that "vectors were like a pocket-rule, which needs to be unfolded before it can be applied and used." In time, however, Milne convinces himself that Chapman was right.