All Precalculus Resources
Example Questions
Example Question #621 : Pre Calculus
Express the vector in polar form.
We know that converting into polar form requires using the formulas : and .
Solving for r will give us the equation:
We can then solve this equation for theta thusly:
We substitute the values of x and y found in the vector equation to get the angle measure:
Since we have already solved for the radius in terms of x and y and the angle, we substitute the proper values into the equation to get the radius.
Therefore, the vector expressed in polar form is:
Example Question #21 : Algebraic Vectors And Parametric Equations
Write the following vector in polar form:
To find the polar form of , two formula will be needed since the polar form of a vector is defined as .
However, the direction of is not in the first quadrant, but lies in the third quadrant. It is mandatory to add 180 degrees so that the angle corresponds to the correct quadrant.
Therefore, the answer is:
Example Question #1 : Express A Vector In Polar Form
Write this vector in component form:
To figure out the horizontal component, set up an equation involving cosine, since that side of the implied triangle is adjacent to the 48-degree angle:
To solve for x, first find the cosine of 48, then multiply by 11:
To figure out the vertical component, set up an equation involving sine, since that side of the implied triangle is opposite the 48-degree angle:
to solve for y, just like x, first find the sine of 48, then multiply by 11:
Putting this in component form results in the vector
Example Question #1 : Express A Vector In Polar Form
Write the vector in polar form .
First, it could be helpful to draw the vector so that we can get a sense of what it looks like. The component form means from the start to the end, it moves forward 2 and down 7:
We can now use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the magnitude:
note that if you had used -7 that would be perfect as well, since that would give you the exact same answer.
take the square root of both sides
The magnitude is .
Now to find the angle we should use trigonometric ratios. We can consider the angle being formed by the vector and the component 2, then we can place it in the right quadrant later on. We know that the tangent of that angle is :
now we can take of both sides to determine theta:
We can see that the angle for this particular vector is pointing down and to the right, so the angle we want is in the 4th quadrant. This angle would be
Example Question #2 : Express A Vector In Polar Form
Write the vector in polar form, .
It will be helpful to first draw the vector so we can see what quadrant the angle is in:
Since the vector is pointing up and to the right, it is in the first quadrant. To determine the angle, set up a trig equation with tangent, since the component 5 is opposite and the component 4 is adjacent to the angle we are looking for:
to solve for theta, take the inverse tangent of both sides:
Now we have the direction, and we can solve for the magnitude using Pythagorean Theorem:
take the square root of both sides
The vector in polar form is
Example Question #1 : Express A Vector In Component Form
Express the following vector in component form:
None of the other answers
When separating a vector into its component form, we are essentially creating a right triangle with the vector being the hypotenuse.
Therefore, we can find each component using the cos (for the x component) and sin (for the y component) functions:
We can now represent these two components together using the denotations i (for the x component) and j (for the y component).
Example Question #2 : Express A Vector In Component Form
Find , then find its magnitude. and are both vectors.
In vector addition, you simply add each component of the vectors to each other.
x component: .
y component: .
z component: .
The new vector is
.
To find the magnitude we use the formula,
Thus its magnitude is 5.
Example Question #31 : Algebraic Vectors And Parametric Equations
Find the component form of the vector with
initial point
and
terminal point .
To find the vector in component form given the initial and terminal points, simply subtract the initial point from the terminal point.
Example Question #1 : Express A Vector In Component Form
Find the component form of the vector with
initial point
and
terminal point
To find the vector in component form given the initial and terminal points, simply subtract the initial point from the terminal point.
Example Question #32 : Algebraic Vectors And Parametric Equations
A bird flies 15 mph up at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizontal. What is the bird's velocity in component form?
Write the formula to find both the x and y-components of a vector.
Substitute the value of velocity and theta into the equations.
The vector is:
Certified Tutor