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rockyshephear
Jun16-09, 11:15 PM
Example found on a website...(there were no graphs or explanations as to p or r or q)
Reverse engineering the question from the answer, I found p to be 180.
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A vector that has length 10 makes an angle of p/6 with the x-axis. Find its components.


Solution:

x = r cos q, y = r sin q

So that

x = (10)(/ 2), y = 10 (1/2) = 5

We can write the vector as

5 i + 5j

slider142
Jun16-09, 11:23 PM
They are using radian measure, and they meant p = \pi radians which is equivalent to 180 degrees. Radian measure is derived from the unit circle; the radian measure of an angle is given by the length of arc that the angle subtends on a unit circle centered at the vertex of the angle. this makes use of the derived fact that the circumference of a circle is known to be 2\pi, so that 360 degrees is 2\pi radians. It is common to leave off the "radian" as a unit of measure since it is also defined as a dimensionless ratio of two lengths (the length of arc divided by the length of the radius of the circle).

rockyshephear
Jun16-09, 11:30 PM
Thanks

Tibarn
Jun17-09, 12:47 AM
Solution:

x = r cos q, y = r sin q

So that

x = (10)(/ 2), y = 10 (1/2) = 5

We can write the vector as

5 i + 5j
Is it just me, or does that vector have neither the length nor the angle specified in the original problem?

Irrational
Jun17-09, 04:09 AM
yeah. answer is 5\sqrt{3}i + 5j

\cos (\frac {\pi}{6}) = \frac{\sqrt3}{2}