Determine the length of the projection of PQ onto the x-axis, with position vectors of P <3,4> and Q <7,8>

Hugo Stokes

Hugo Stokes

Answered question

2022-10-25

Determine the length of the projection of PQ onto the x-axis, with position vectors of P <3,4> and Q <7,8>
My working out so far:
PQ=PO+OQ
=−(3i+4j)+(7i+8j)
=4i+4j
Since PQ is being projected onto the x-axis, do you choose a random vector lying on the x-axis, like a unit vector (1i+0j) to calculate the scalar projection with the formula?
Or the answer key provided suggests that the scalar is just the x-component of PQ - so in this case it would just be 4 since that is the i component, but I don't understand why. Could someone please explain this to me?

Answer & Explanation

Immanuel Brennan

Immanuel Brennan

Beginner2022-10-26Added 9 answers

Both methods work. Using the projection formula we get the projected vector length as
( 4 , 4 ) ( 1 , 0 ) = 4
Note that (1,0) is already a unit vector.
Since we're projecting on the x-axis, it suffices to throw away the y-component, so we still get 4. Indeed, using the projection formula shows that we can make this simplification.

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