Is History a Scalar or a Vector ?

We all know that Scalars and Vectors are measure of quantities .

• One is defined fully by Magnitude 
• The other requires Direction in addition to Magnitude for full description.

I cannot resist myself from finding a similarity between Study of History and Vector Science.
The thought originated in my II Year B Tech . Our teacher taught us Relative Velocity and this is what he tried to explain.
Imagine a Red car is travelling on road from Pune to Mumbai at a speed of 60 km / hr.

As a vector this is more accurately described as Velocity of Car 60 km / hr relative to earth ( or a stationary observer )  in direction of Mumbai
Now imagine the observer is chasing above Red car sitting in another car say Yellow travelling at a speed of 40 km / hr in direction of Mumbai.

The relative velocity of the Red Car with Respect to the Yellow Car would be 20 km / hr.

• The  position of the Observer changes the Magnitude .

We come across a parallel situation in case of recording the flow rate of a river.

Suppose we try to measure the flow rate of the river, the relative flow rate changes as the observer changes point at which the flow rate is recorded . So the flow rate of river is different when

1. Observer measures it at the top surface of river
   
2. Observer measures it at the bottom surface of the river
   
   
   
3. Observer travels in a boat in direction of the flow    
   

• The point I am trying to drive home is the Magnitude of the Vector is a function of the position of the Observer.

So how does History come in to picture in this context?
I read two books
1.The Last Mughal by William Dalrymple

2. 1857 चे स्वातंत्र्य समर by Vinayak Damodar Sawarkar

Both books are about the events around 1857.

• The first is written by a Foreign National.
• The second by an Indian Freedom Fighter.
• In the first the author ( Observer ) records the events in and around Delhi 
• While in the second the author records the events happening all around the Region Affected by The Uprising. 
• So the magnitude of the record is different.
• The first is a more Matter of Fact ( Say Flat in Direction )
• The second has a more Patriotic Flavour ( Say Upward in Direction ).
• So the directions of the two are different.

In that case which one does one consider to be an absolute true description ?

• The answer is best explained if one considers History as a Vector. 

The description of the events is a function of the Observer / Recorder / Author . The Magnitude and the Direction is equally important .

• History is limited by what the observer / recorder wants to reveal to the reader .  

So if we want to know more about let us say 1857 , let us explore all the available records of that time . Let us not limit our knowledge to what data is available in India . Let us try and explore what record is available in foreign press which covered the same event outside India.
And then may be we can have some knowledge about the event .

As my Generative Leadership Coach Mr. Sameer Dua says , "Let us change the way we observe the event and then more facets (of the event) may dawn upon us .