What did I do wrong in finding the resultant of these vectors?

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Homework Help Overview

The original poster attempts to find the resultant of multiple vectors using both the cosine and sine rules. They provide specific calculations and compare their results to those in a textbook, noting discrepancies in both the magnitude and angle of the resultant vector.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss breaking vectors into components as a more straightforward approach. The original poster questions their use of angles and calculations, particularly the angle of 105° and its derivation.

Discussion Status

Some participants suggest that the original poster may have made assumptions that led to errors in their calculations. There is a recognition of the potential for rounding errors, and one participant notes a realization about the need to calculate the angle of the first resultant vector.

Contextual Notes

The problem was specified to be solved in component form, and there is an indication that the original poster's method may not align with this requirement.

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I have to find the resultant of:

[PLAIN]http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/8263/68709011.jpg

So I decided to break it up into components:

[PLAIN]http://img37.imageshack.us/img37/7032/71250823.jpg

(The black arrow in the first picture is the blue arrow in the second, that's the way I did it!)

I found the blue line in the picture using the cosine rule:

[itex]c \ = \ \sqrt{30^2 \ + \ 40^2 \ - \ (2 \cdot 30 \ \cdot \ 40 \ \cdot \ \cos(120))[/itex]

c = 60.827 and it's just horizontal along the x-axis.

Then I added c = 60.827 to the third vector:

[PLAIN]http://img96.imageshack.us/img96/1917/92586648.jpg

I found the white arrow, the total resultant, using the same technique:

[itex]d \ = \ \sqrt{25^2 \ + \ 60.827^2 \ - \ (2 \cdot 25 \ \cdot \ 60.827 \ \cdot \ \cos(105))[/itex]

d = 71.5

My book says the answer is 67.6

I got the angle of the resultant using the sine rule:

[itex]\theta \ = \ \sin^{-1} ( \frac{25 \cdot \sin(105)}{60.827} ) \ = \ 23.39[/itex]

My book says the angle is: 11.3°

What did I do wrong?
 
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Where did you get 105? Clearly the most straightforward way to do this is to break it up into components, i.e. x=30cos45+40cos15+25sin15
y=30sin45-40sin15-25cos15
r^2=x^2+y^2
theta=arctan(y/x)
 
The 105° comes from adding the 90° angle under the red vector in third picture with the
15° the blue vector is making, giving 105°.

The problem was asked to be solved in component form but I tried it this way & got
the wrong answer, I can't see why & am totally stumped & would just like to know
why.
 
I don't know, round off errors most likely. Components are the way to go, less calculations.
 
Yeah I had a good look at it & realized I'd assumed too much, I didn't calculate the
angle of the first resultant vector, I got a better answer, thanks!
 

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