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PiRsq
Sep28-03, 11:54 AM
The question asked me to find the head of a vector [a,b,c] whose length is 3 and is in the same direction as vector
a=[-3,-4,12]

So I found the follwing:

Let vector x be the unknown vector

|a|=13
|x|=3

Since they are both in the same direction, they both must have the same direction angles right?

So:

Cos alpha = -3/13 which is equal to a/3
Cos beta = -4/13 which is equal to b/3
Cos gamma = 12/13 which is equal to c/3

Then I got the values for a,b and c but the book shows me a different answer. What am I doing wrong here?

Hurkyl
Sep28-03, 02:31 PM
What values did you get, and what does the book say?

PiRsq
Sep28-03, 06:43 PM
I found my answer to be correct because I did a similiar question and found my method to work. Thx though