Tensors — In “words of one syllable”

Tensor analysis continues to interest — and to perplex — many electrical engineers. In several previous articles and papers, including a series in the first three issues of ELECTRICAL ENGINEERING for 1938, efforts have been made to explain tensor methods and their great power and usefulness. In a hopeful effort to broaden the general understanding of the fundamentals of tensor analysis and their relation to more commonly used mathematical methods, this further discussion of the subject is published. In trying to get as close as possible to fundamentals the author of this article tells the story of tensors, figuratively, in words of one syllable, and suggests a course of study to be used as a stepping stone to a working knowledge of tensor analysis.