Question

The diagram shows two vectors that point west and north.

Two vectors added using the tip to tail method. There is a 12 meter vector west added to a 5 meter vector north in a right triangle. The hypotenuse is a dashed arrow labeled R.

What is the magnitude of the resultant vector?

13 miles
17 miles
60 miles
169 miles

Answer 1

Use the Pythagorean theorem: R = sqrt(12^2 + 5^2) = sqrt(144 + 25) = sqrt(169) = 13.

So the magnitude is 13 miles (same numeric value in the original meters).