with respect to a given Cartesian coordinate system
of: a vector with respect to a given Cartesian coordinate system
are: the vectors 
directed along the Cartesian axes such that 
[M2.5]
are therefore: individually proportional to the corresponding Cartesian unit vectors 
[M2.5]
should not be confused with: the Cartesian scalar components 
of which are individually the scalars by which a Cartesian unit vector must be scaled to produce the corresponding component vector (e.g. 
). [M2.5]
Copyright 1997, The Open University