Asked by Claudia

four forces act on a hot air ballon
356 N north
129 N west
297 N east
156 N south

a)find the magnitude of the resultant force on the balloon.

i already found this one out.
i got magnitude to be 261.197N

b) find the direction of the resultant force (in relation to the 297 N force, with up being positive)
i cant figure this one out



may someone please help me
Answered by bobpursley
change the S to -N, and the E to -W

356N-156N + 129W - 297W
Now get the N, W components..

200N - 168W. SO it is towards the NE, the angle will be arctan 200/168

check my math, I did it in my head.
Answered by Claudia
yeah the math is right.
but i don't get this part:
ok i know that to solve for angle "a'

tan(a) = 200/168
a = arctan(200/168)
a = arctan(1.19047619)
a = ?????

what is arctan?
is it the same as doing tangent(1.1904)
Answered by bobpursley
arctan is the angle whose tangent is ....
Some use invtan meaning the same.
Some write it like this tan^-1 (xxxx)

Answered by Claudia
oh!!! ok thank you
yeah we use tan^-1
i was confused on what arctan meant
but thanks
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