We already briefly mentioned an example of one type of vector, the displacement vector, which describes the difference the relative position of two points in space, but the magnitude and direction.
Another example, which will talk about extensively in the next chapter is the velocity vector. The direction of the vector tells you the direction an object is moving, and the magnitude, its speed.
A chapter after that, we'll start discussing forces. These are also vectors. The direction of a force acting on an object determines in what direction the force is pushing the object. Its magnitude tells you hard its being pushed.
An example of a scalar, is the speed of an object, like a bird or an electric cabbage. The energy of an object, something we'll talk about even later, is also a scalar. It doesn't matter what coordinate system you use to measure the energy. You always get the same answer.
I'm giving you lots of examples of things which are vectors. Well perhaps it'd be useful to give an example something that is not. OK well here is a completely random example. The x component is the number of socks that I am currently wearing (1), and the y component is the time showing on my watch (11:11PM). This is not a vector because if I use a different coordinate system, I don't find that these two numbers change. They should if this was a vector as we saw in section 4.1.