4 INTRODUCTION TO VECTORS [CHAP.

Solved Problems
1.1 Using the graphical method, ®nd the resultant of the following two displacements: 2.0 m at 408
and 4.0 m at 1278, the angles being taken relative to the ‡ x-axis, as is customary. Give your
answer to two signi®cant ®gures. (See Appendix A on signi®cant ®gures.)
Choose x- and y-axes as shown in Fig. 1-5 and lay out the displacements to scale, tip to tail from the
origin. Notice that all angles are measured from the ‡ x-axis. The resultant vector ~ points from starting
R
point to end point as shown. We measure its length on the scale diagram to ®nd its magnitude, 4.6 m. Using
a protractor, we measure its angle to be 1018. The resultant displacement is therefore 4.6 m at 1018:

Fig. 1-5 Fig. 1-6

1.2 Find the x- and y-components of a 25.0-m displacement at an angle of 210:08:

The vector displacement and its components are shown in Fig. 1-6. The scalar components are

x-component ˆ À…25:0 m† cos 30:08 ˆ À21:7 m

y-component ˆ À…25:0 m† sin 30:08 ˆ À12:5 m
Notice in particular that each component points in the negative coordinate direction and must therefore be
taken as negative.

1.3 Solve Problem 1.1 by use of rectangular components.

We resolve each vector into rectangular components as shown in Fig. 1-7(a) and (b). (Place a cross-
hatch symbol on the original vector to show that it is replaced by its components.) The resultant has scalar
components of
Rx ˆ 1:53 m À 2:41 m ˆ À0:88 m Ry ˆ 1:29 m ‡ 3:19 m ˆ 4:48 m
Notice that components pointing in the negative direction must be assigned a negative value.
The resultant is shown in Fig. 1.7(c); there, we see that
q••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••
Rˆ …0:88 m† 2 ‡ …4:48 m† 2 ˆ 4:6 m tan ˆ 4:48 m
0:88 m
and ˆ 798, from which ˆ 1808 À ˆ 1018. Hence ~ ˆ 4:6 R m Ð 1018 FROM ‡ X-AXIS; remember vectors
must have their directions stated explicitly.
CHAP. 1] INTRODUCTION TO VECTORS 5

Fig. 1-7

1.4 Add the following two force vectors by use of the parallelogram method: 30 N at 308 and 20 N at
1408. Remember that numbers like 30 N and 20 N have two signi®cant ®gures.
The force vectors are shown in Fig. 1-8(a). We construct a parallelogram using them as sides, as shown
in Fig. 1-8(b). The resultant ~ isRthen represented by the diagonal. By measurement, we ®nd that ~ is 30 N at R
728:

Fig. 1-8

1.5 Four coplanar forces act on a body at point O as shown in Fig. 1-9(a). Find their resultant
graphically.
Starting from O, the four vectors are plotted in turn as shown in Fig. 1-9(b). We place the tail end of
each vector at the tip end of the preceding one. The arrow from O to the tip of the last vector represents the
resultant of the vectors.

Fig. 1-9
6 INTRODUCTION TO VECTORS [CHAP. 1

We measure R from the scale drawing in Fig. 1-9(b) and ®nd it to be 119 N. Angle is measured by
protractor and is found to be 378. Hence the resultant makes an angle ˆ 1808 À 378 ˆ 1438 with the
positive x-axis. The resultant is 119 N at 1438:

1.6 The ®ve coplanar forces shown in Fig. 1-10(a) act on an object. Find their resultant.
(1) First we ®nd the x- and y-components of each force. These components are as follows:

Force x-Component y-Component

19.0 N 19.0 N 0N
15.0 N …15:0 N) cos 60:08 ˆ 7:50 N …15:0 N) sin 60:08 ˆ 13:0 N
16.0 N À…16:0 N) cos 45:08 ˆ À11:3 N …16:0 N) sin 45:08 ˆ 11:3 N
11.0 N À…11:0 N) cos 30:08 ˆ À9:53 N À…11:0 N) sin 30:08 ˆ À5:50 N
22.0 N 0N À22:0 N

Notice the ‡ and À signs to indicate direction.

(2) The resultant ~ has

R components Rx ˆ Æ Fx and Ry ˆ Æ Fy, where we read Æ Fx as ``the sum of all the x-
force components.'' We then have
Rx ˆ 19:0 N ‡ 7:50 N À 11:3 N À 9:53 N ‡ 0 N ˆ ‡ 5:7 N
Ry ˆ 0 N ‡ 13:0 N ‡ 11:3 N À 5:50 N À 22:0 N ˆ À3:2 N
(3) The magnitude of the resultant is
q•••••••••••••••••
Rˆ R2x ‡ R2y ˆ 6:5 N
(4) Finally, we sketch the resultant as shown in Fig. 1-10(b) and ®nd its angle. We see that

tan ˆ 3:2 N ˆ 0:56

5:7 N
from which ˆ 298. Then ˆ 3608 À 298 ˆ 3318. The resultant is 6.5 N at 3318 (or À298) or
~R ˆ 6:5 N Ð 3318 FROM ‡ X-AXIS.

Fig. 1-10