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Comments on What does upper indices represent?

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What does upper indices represent?

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I saw that people were representing matrices in two ways.

  1. $$\sum_{j=1}^n a_{ij}$$

It is representing a column matrix (vector actually) if we assume $i=1$.

$$\begin{bmatrix}a_{11} & a_{12} & a_{13} & ......\end{bmatrix}$$

  1. $$\sum_{j=1}^n a^{ij}$$

What is it representing? At first, I thought it was a row matrix (vector) since it is the opposite of a column matrix (vector). But when I was writing the question I couldn't generate a row matrix using the 2nd equation. I became more confused when I saw $a_j^{i}$, and sometimes there are two variables in sub and sup: $a_{ji}^{kl}$. I don't remember if either of them matches (I am not sure if I wrote it the wrong way).

After searching a little bit I found that when we move components our vectors don't change. But, I can't get deeper into covariant and contravariant. I even saw some people use an equation like this: $^ia_j$.

I was reading https://physics.stackexchange.com/q/541822/, and those answers don't explain the covariant and contravariant for a beginner (those explanations are for those who have some knowledge of the covariant and contravariant).

I was watching the video, what he said that is, if we take some basis vectors and then find a vector using those basis vectors than if we decrease length of those vectors than that's contravariant vectors (I think he meant to say changing those components). But the explanation is not much more good to me. He might be correct also but I don't have any idea. If he is assuming that changes of basis vectors is contravariant then is "the original" basis vectors covariant? So how do we deal with covariant and contravariant altogether $g^i_j$ sometimes $g_j^i$

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2 comment threads

Wrong site? (2 comments)
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Wrong site?
Peter Taylor‭ wrote over 2 years ago

If you're asking about notations that physicists use, you might have a better chance of getting a good answer on the physics site.

deleted user wrote over 2 years ago

Yep u r correct. But i didn’t know that before posting the question. All the things i know that is tensor was looking like metrices so a formal mathematician might deal with it also. Latter, i found that these notations were described by Einstein. And tensors are also different from metrice. But tensor is matrices when rank is 2. Rank 1 is vectors and rank 0 is scalar. Rank 3 can called 3 dimensional metrices (but that's not true completely).

Since It's a mathematics part that's why i Will remark it as on-topic in the site.

Anyway i think i Have nearly understood the concept so i will try to write an answer tomorrow