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Find the direction of the given vector. -6,5


User Berto
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1 Answer

1 vote

9514 1404 393

Answer:

140.2°

Explanation:

The direction of vector (x, y) is the angle arctan(y/x). The signs of the components tell you this is a 2nd quadrant angle. The arctan function only gives values in the range -π/2 to +π/2, so 180° must be added for 2nd and 3rd quadrant angles.*

arctan(5/-6) = 180° -39.8° = 140.2° . . . . CCW from the +x axis

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* Spreadsheets and some calculators have an ATAN2(x, y) function that uses the signs of the coordinates to give the result in the correct quadrant.

User Ravbaker
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