Perhaps the most significant relationship between electricity and magnetism is light , which is known to physicists as an electromagnetic wave . Light is the best known example, but microwaves, radio waves, X-rays, infrared and ultraviolet light are also electromagnetic waves. Electric and Magnetic phenomena are intricately described by a collection of physical laws, known as Maxwell's equations . Fully understanding these complex equations require a thorough knowledge of calculus and differential equations. This is a physical property of magnetic fields.
Magnetic fields are vector quantities, meaning they have both a magnitude and a direction.
Many measurable physical phenomena are described in terms of scalar quantities, which have only a magnitude. On the other hand, magnetic fields are directional. In a magnet, the magnetic field vector always points from the north pole to the south pole. In the space around the magnet, the vectors vary in both direction and magnitude. This is the behavior you see when you dump iron filings around a bar magnet, for example.