Jim’s dog Sparky runs 50 m northeast to a tree, then 70 m west to a second tree,

Question

and finally 20 m south to a third tree.
a. Draw a picture and establish a coordinate system.
b. Calculate Sparky’s net displacement in component form.
c. Calculate Sparky’s net displacement as a magnitude and an angle.

Answer 1

East = x = 50 cos 45 -70 = -34.6
North = y = 50 sin 45 - 20 = 15.4

magnitude = sqrt (34.6^2 + 15.4^2 )
angle north of east = tan^-1 (-15.4/34.6)