Final answer:
The total electric field at a point near multiple charges is the vector sum of the fields produced by each charge, requiring vector addition which considers both magnitude and direction.
Step-by-step explanation:
The electric field at a given point in the vicinity of a collection of electric charges is indeed the vector sum of the single-charge electric-field contributions. When dealing with multiple charges, each charge creates its own electric field at every point in space. If you need to calculate the total electric field at a point, you must add the individual fields as vectors, considering both magnitude and direction. This is based on the principle of superposition. To illustrate, if you had point charges q1, q2, and q3 at distances r1, r2, and r3 from the point of interest, you would calculate the electric field due to each charge and then use vector addition to find the resultant field at that point.
Remember, the electric potential (V) is a scalar quantity that can be added numerically as V = kQ/r where 'k' is the Coulomb's constant, 'Q' is the charge, and 'r' is the distance from the charge. The electric field (E), however, is a vector and hence, its addition requires considering both direction and magnitude to find the total electric field.