Q.What do you mean by resolution of a vector? Find rectangular components of a vector.
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Start your 14-day free trial to unlock the full solution →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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