Magnitude of u = 15, direction angle θ = 35°

Magnitude of v = 18, direction angle θ = 60°
Find the magnitude and direction angle for u + v.
Round the magnitude to the nearest tenth and the direction angle to the nearest whole degree.

1 answer

To find the magnitude and direction angle of the vector u + v, we first need to find the components of each vector.

For vector u with a magnitude of 15 and a direction angle of 35°, the x-component can be found using the formula: u_x = u * cos(θ) = 15 * cos(35°) ≈ 12.27 and the y-component can be found using the formula: u_y = u * sin(θ) = 15 * sin(35°) ≈ 8.57.

For vector v with a magnitude of 18 and a direction angle of 60°, the x-component can be found using the formula: v_x = v * cos(θ) = 18 * cos(60°) = 18 * 0.5 = 9 and the y-component can be found using the formula: v_y = v * sin(θ) = 18 * sin(60°) = 18 * 0.866 = 15.588.

Now, we can add the components to find the components of vector u + v.

The x-component of u + v is: (u + v)_x = u_x + v_x = 12.27 + 9 ≈ 21.27
The y-component of u + v is: (u + v)_y = u_y + v_y = 8.57 + 15.588 ≈ 24.158

To find the magnitude of u + v, we use the formula: |u + v| = sqrt((u + v)_x^2 + (u + v)_y^2) ≈ sqrt(21.27^2 + 24.158^2) ≈ sqrt(452.47 + 584.945864) ≈ sqrt(1037.415864) ≈ 32.2

To find the direction angle of u + v, we use the formula: θ = arctan((u + v)_y / (u + v)_x) ≈ arctan(24.158 / 21.27) ≈ arctan(1.13643) ≈ 49°

Therefore, the magnitude of u + v is approximately 32.2 and the direction angle is approximately 49°.