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Find a unit vector u in the same direction as v= (8,-4)

1 Answer

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Step-by-step explanation:

In this exercise we have the following vector:


\vec{v}=(8,-4)

So we need to find a unit vector
\vec{u} which is defined as follows:


\vec{u}=\frac{\vec{v}}{\mid \vec{v} \mid}

Finding the magnitude of the vector:


\mid \vec{v} \mid=√((8)^2+(-4)^2) \\ \\ \mid \vec{v} \mid=√(64+16) \\ \\ \mid \vec{v} \mid=√(80) \\ \\ \mid \vec{v} \mid=4√(5)

Then, by substituting the unit vector is:


\vec{u}=((8,-4))/(4√(5)) \\ \\ \vec{u}=((8,-4))/(4√(5)) \\ \\ \vec{u}=((8)/(4√(5)),-(4)/(4√(5))) \\ \\


\vec{u}=((8)/(4√(5))(√(5))/(√(5)),-(4)/(4√(5))(√(5))/(√(5))) \\ \\ \\ \boxed{\vec{u}=\left((2√(5))/(5),-(5)/(√(5))\right)}

User Jondykeman
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