Question

A baseball player running forward at 3 meters per second throws a ball with a velocity of 20 meters per second at an angle of 20o with the horizontal. What is the resultant speed and direction of the throw?

Answer 1

22.84 meters per second

17.43° with the horizontal

Explanation:

steps on precalculus textbook p. 496

Answer 2

22.8 m/s at 17.4°

Explanation:

Horizontal component:

vₓ = 3 + 20 cos 20° = 21.8

Vertical component:

vᵧ = 0 + 20 sin 20° = 6.84

Magnitude:

v² = vₓ² + vᵧ²

v² = (21.8)² + (6.84)²

v = 22.8 m/s

Direction:

θ = atan(vᵧ / vₓ)

θ = atan(6.84 / 21.8)

θ = 17.4°