scalar

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin scālāris, adjectival form from scāla (“a flight of steps, stairs, staircase, ladder, scale”), for *scadla, from scandere (“to climb”); compare scale. The mathematics sense was coined by Irish mathematician and astronomer William Rowan Hamilton in 1846.

adj

1. (mathematics) Having magnitude but not direction.
2. (computer science) Consisting of a single value (e.g. integer or string) rather than multiple values (e.g. array).
3. Of, or relating to scale.
   However, it can be expected that 'scale-similarity' models of this form will be inadequate for describing non-equilibrium scalar fields resulting, for example, from non-equilibrium inlet flow conditions. 2003, Rodney O. Fox, Computational Models for Turbulent Reacting Flows
   Scalar thickening is useful for understanding the propensity of scales to coalesce in certain times and places, or even how a particular scale provides conditions for other forms of scalar production. 2015, Raymond L Bryant, The International Handbook of Political Ecology, page 504
4. (music) Of or pertaining to a musical scale.
5. (physics) Relating to particles with a spin (quantum angular momentum) of 0 (known as spin 0).
6. (linguistics) Pertaining to the dimension on which something is measured.
   Spector (2006, 2007) suggests to derive this inference as a scalar implicature. 2014, Salvatore Pistoia Reda, Pragmatics, Semantics and the Case of Scalar Implicatures
   Also, the scalar meaning in both sentences is not sensitive to context, because the truth value of the sentences does not change depending on context. 2018, Osamu Sawada, Pragmatic Aspects of Scalar Modifiers, page 26
   In Mandarin Chinese, the same sentence containing a numeral-classifier phrase as a negative polarity item can be employed for two types of scalar inferences based on either the numeral or the noun. 2019, Penka Stateva, Anne Reboul, Scalar Implicatures, page 8

noun

1. (mathematics) A quantity that has magnitude but not direction; compare vector.
2. (electronics) An amplifier whose output is a constant multiple of its input.