Definition of a Base Vector

[shivers20]

Is a base vector a unit vector along a positive coordinate direction?

 

[royhaas]

It doesn't have to be. It could also be called a basis vector, i.e. one of several linearly independent vectors that spans the space. In 3-space, (1,0,0), (0,1,0) and (0,0,1) are all basis or base vectors, for example.