Change of Coordinates
In geometry and kinematics, coordinate systems are used not only to describe the (linear) position of points, but also to describe the angular position of axes, planes, and rigid bodies. In the latter case, the orientation of a second (typically referred to as "local") coordinate system, fixed to the node, is defined based on the first (typically referred to as "global" or "world" coordinate system). For instance, the orientation of a rigid body can be represented by an orientation matrix, which includes, in its three columns, the Cartesian coordinates of three points. These points are used to define the orientation of the axes of the local system; they are the tips of three unit vectors aligned with those axes.
Read more about this topic: Coordinate System
Famous quotes containing the words change of and/or change:
“When Learning’s Triumph o’er her barb’rous Foes
First rear’d the Stage, immortal Shakespear rose;
Each Change of many-colour’d Life he drew,
Exhausted Worlds, and then imagin’d new:”
—Samuel Johnson (1709–1784)
“I had such a wonderful feeling last night, walking beneath the dark sky while cannon boomed on my right and guns on my left ... the feeling that I could change the world only by being there.”
—Viorica Butnariu, Rumanian student at Bucharest University. letter, Dec. 23, 1989, to American friend. Observer (London, Dec. 31, 1989)