Displacement of angles with different degrees

[Trizz]

Homework Statement

Path A is 6.0 km long heading 60.0° north of east. Path B is 6.0 km long in a direction due east. Path C is 3.0 km long heading 315° counterclockwise from east.

(a) Graphically add the hiker's displacements in the order A, B, C.

Magnitude of displacement: _________ km
Direction of displacement: ___________ ° (counterclockwise from east)

(b) Graphically add the hiker's displacements in the order C, B, A.
Magnitude of displacement: _________ km
Direction of displacement: ___________ ° (counterclockwise from east)

Homework Equations

The Attempt at a Solution

I honestly do not know where to begin with this one.

The questions before it in my homework involved displacement of straight lines, which was pretty straightforward, and questions later in the assignment involved displacement lines that formed right triangles, where i would simply find the hypotenuse through the Pythagorean theorem.

When I draw these lines out, it forms an odd shape from which I have no idea where to proceed. Maybe I'm simply drawing them wrong, but if anyone has some helpful tips for ways that I can attack this problem, that would be great. Thank!

 

[bigmac]

Hey, I think I sort of know how to do this. I did something like this before using components. Basically you have to add all three components and you can then find the displacement.

displacement would be square root of the sum of x component squared + the sum of y component squared

 

[Trizz]

Thanks for the reply bigmac.

I'm not very familiar with components. Do you care explaining? I would love to attempt the problem with the formula you gave me, but since I have three displacement variables in A,B, and C, how would i find the x component and y component?

 

[bigmac]

Umm I tried doing it but I can't get the diagram right lol...part C is confusing me. I guess you'll have to wait for someone else to reply sorry..we just started these kinds of problems too and I did a similar one but I just don't get the diagram for this question.

Vectors and components? You've never done this? I'm not sure how to explain it lol check you textbook it has to be in there.