Main Page | See live article | Alphabetical index A scalar field associates a single number (or scalar) to every point in space. Scalar fields are often used in physics, for instance to indicate the temperature distribution throughout space, or the air pressure. The derivative of a scalar field results in a vector field called the gradient. Scalar fields should be compared to vector fields, which associate a vector to every point in space. This article is from Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License.