An introduction to mathematics, by A. N. Whitehead.

126 INTRODUCTION TO MATHEMATICS
feet claims more attention than an earthquake at Cape Horn, or than the destruction
of a world in the Milky Way. It is true that
in making a common stock of our knowledge
with our fellowmen, we have to waive something of the strict egoism of our own individual "here." We substitute "nearly
here" for "here"; thus we measure miles
from the town hall of the nearest town, or
from the capital of the country. In measuring
the earth, men of science will put the origin
at the earth's centre; astronomers even
rise to the extreme altruism of putting their
origin inside the sun. But, far as this last
origin may be, and even if we go further to
some convenient point amid the nearer fixed
stars, yet, compared to the immeasurable
infinities of space, it remains true that our
first procedure in exploring the Universe is
to fix upon an origin "nearly here."
Again the relation of the coordinates OM
and MP (i.e. x and y) to the vector OP is an
instance of the famous parallelogram law, as
can easily be seen (cf. diagram) by completing
the parallelogram OMPN. The idea of the
"vector" OP, that is, of a directed magnitude, is the root-idea of physical science.
Any moving body has a certain magnitude
of velocity in a certain direction, that is to
say, its velocity is a directed magnitude, a
vector. Again a force has a certain magni