Learn Physics with Functional Programming

10DESCRIBING MOTION IN THREE DIMENSIONS

In Chapter 4, we reviewed one-dimensional kinematics, describing quantities like velocity and acceleration with real numbers. In this chapter, we’ll look at three-dimensional kinematics, describing velocity and acceleration as vectors. Haskell does not have a built-in type for vectors, but it does have powerful facilities for making your own types, which we’ll use to create a Vec type for vectors. Before deciding how to implement the Vec type, we’ll take a careful look at the meaning and use of vectors in physics so we can produce an implementation that aligns well with how we think and write about vectors. ...