Though bending moments have been used to determine the stress states in arbitrary shaped structures, the physical interpretation of the computed stresses is problematic. However, physical interpretations of bending moments in beams and plates have a straightforward interpretation as the stress resultants in a cross-section of the structural element. For example, in a beam in the figure, the bending moment vector due to stresses in the cross-section A perpendicular to the x-axis is given by