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1 vote
Find the direction of the vector <-3, -5>

User AnthonyI
by
4.2k points

1 Answer

5 votes

Answer:

The vector

V

=

(

4

,

-

3

)

is at an angle of

36.67

°

to the positive

x

-axis.

Step-by-step explanation:

I'll presume you're looking for the angle which the vector makes with the

x

-axis.

We use our old friend

tan

for this.

tan

θ

=

y

x

θ

=

tan

1

(

y

x

)

θ

=

tan

1

(

3

4

)

=

tan

1

(

0.75

)

θ

=

0.64

θ

36.67

°

Because

tan

1

can only return angles between -90° and +90° (that is, in

Q

IV

or

Q

I

), we then check which quadrant the point

(

4

,

-

3

)

is in, to confirm whether we can keep this answer or if we need to add 180°.

(

4

,

-

3

)

is in quadrant 4, and so the value given by

tan

1

is fine as it is.

The vector

V

=

(

4

,

-

3

)

is at an angle of

36.67

°

to the positive

x

-axis.

User Patrickmdnet
by
4.3k points