Question

A man is dragging a trunk up the loading ramp of a mover's truck. The ramp has a slope angle of 20 degrees, and the man pulls upward with a force F whose direction makes an angle of 30 degrees with the ramp. a) how large a forec F is necessary for the component F_x parallel to the ramp to be 80 N? b) How large with the component F_y then be?

I should have gotten 92.4 N for a) and 46.2N for b) Why am I getting this problem wrong? I tryed using F=mg cos theda but i keep getting the wrong answer.

80= Fcos30


Fy, perpendicular to the ramp, = Fsin30

Answer 1

Hi,
You may have in terms of radians instead of degree mode.
I had similar problem, but after trial and errors, I recognized it was radians instead of degrees.
So, please check your calculator, and set it up to degree mode, then you should be able to get the 92.4 N and 46.2N.