Regardless of what kind of continuum is being dealt with, convective acceleration is a nonlinear effect. Convective acceleration is present in most flows (exceptions include one-dimensional incompressible flow), but its dynamic effect is disregarded in creeping flow (also called Stokes flow). Convective acceleration is represented by the nonlinear quantity u ⋅ ∇ u, which may be interpreted either as (u ⋅ ∇) u or as u ⋅ (∇ u), with ∇ u the tensor derivative of the velocity vector u. Both interpretations give the same result.