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Q.What do you mean by resolution of a vector? Find rectangular components of a vector.

(OR)
From the velocity-time graph of uniform accelerated motion, deduce the equations of motion in
(i) Velocity and time
(ii) Position and time
Jammu Kashmir JkboseJammu and Kashmir Board of School Education (Class 11) 2025Subjective· 5mImportance★★★★★
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Resolving a vector means breaking it into perpendicular components; for a vector of magnitude A at angle theta to the x-axis, the rectangular components are A_x = A cos(theta) and A_y = A sin(theta).

Resolution of a vector: The process of splitting a single vector into two or more component vectors, along specified directions, such that their vector sum reproduces the original vector, is called resolution of a vector. Although a vector can be resolved along any set of directions, resolution along two mutually perpendicular directions (rectangular components) is the most useful and common choice.

Rectangular components: Consider a vector A lying in the x-y plane, making an angle theta with the positive x-axis, and having magnitude A = |A|. Using unit vectors i (along x-axis) and j (along y-axis), A can be written as:

A = A_x i + A_y j

To find A_x and A_y, drop perpendiculars from the tip of A onto the x-axis and y-axis. From simple trigonometry (right-angled triangle formed by A, A_x, A_y):

A_x = A cos(theta) (component along the x-axis)

A_y = A sin(theta) (component along the y-axis)

The magnitude and direction of A can be recovered from its components:

|A| = sqrt(A_x^2 + A_y^2)

theta = tan^-1(A_y / A_x)

This resolution into rectangular components is extremely useful because it lets vector addition/subtraction be carried out simply by adding/subtracting components along each axis independently, rather than using the parallelogram law geometrically each time.

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