Question

The force acting on a tugboat is described by the vector(6 newtons,–3 newtons). What is the direction of the force in degrees, to thenearest tenth of a degree?

Answer 1

In order to calculate the direction of the vector, first let's draw its components:

since the horizontal component is positive and the vertical component is negative, the vector is pointing to the 4th quadrant.

To calculate the angle, we can use the arc tangent as follows:

`\begin{gathered} \tan (\theta)=(-3)/(6) \\ \tan (\theta)=-0.5 \\ \theta=\tan ^(-1)(-0.5) \\ \theta=-26.56\degree \end{gathered}`

Rounding to nearest tenth, the direction is -26.6°.