Given |\vec(x) |=2,|\vec(y)|=3 and the angle between them is 120°, determine the unit vector

Antwan Perez

Antwan Perez

Answered question

2022-10-21

Given | x | = 2 , | y | = 3 and the angle between them is 120°, determine the unit vector in the opposite direction of | x y |

Answer & Explanation

Ramiro Sosa

Ramiro Sosa

Beginner2022-10-22Added 13 answers

HINT
Denote the origin by O=(0,0) and consider the vectors x = ( 2 , 0 ) and y = ( 3 cos ( θ ) , 3 sin ( θ ) )
Based on such considerations, we are able to find the vector v in the exercise as follows:
v = x y x y = ( 2 3 cos ( θ ) , 3 sin ( θ ) ) 13 12 cos ( θ )
Aryanna Blake

Aryanna Blake

Beginner2022-10-23Added 2 answers

If the problem is to find a unit vector in the direction opposite x y then the main thing you need to do is find the length of x y so that you can scale x y to a unit vector. Then reverse its direction.
You can use the law of cosines to find the length of x y , assign a convenient orthonormal basis in which to evaluate the length of that vector, or whatever method finds the length.
One thing for sure is that the answer will multiply x and y by the same factor, so we know immediately that 1 2 x + 1 3 y cannot possibly be the answer.

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