What is Tensor?


H. Kemal Ilter
2020


In simplifying terms, we can think of tensors as multidimensional arrays of numbers, as a generalization of scalars, vectors, and matrices.

  1. Scalar, [math]\mathbb{R} [/math]
  2. Vector
  3. Matrix
  4. 3-Tensor


When we describe tensors, we refer to its “dimensions” as the rank (or order) of a tensor, which is not to be confused with the dimensions of a matrix. For instance, an m × n matrix, where m is the number of rows and n is the number of columns, would be a special case of a rank-2 tensor. A visual explanation of tensors and their ranks is given is the figure below.

Tensors.png