Question

A car moves 150m/s towards x- axis and it stays at rest and then moves towards y-axis at the velocity of 180 m/s. Find the magnitude of the resultant vector using the pythagorean theorem.

Answer 1

ANSWER

$\begin{equation*} 234.31\text{ }m\/s \end{equation*}$

EXPLANATION

First, let us make a sketch of the problem:

where R = magnitude of the resultant vector

To solve for R, apply the Pythagoras theorem:

$hyp^2=opp^2+adj^2$

Therefore, we have that:

$R^2=150^2+180^2$

Simplify and solve for R:

$\begin{gathered} R^2=22500+32400 \\ R^2=54900 \\ R=\sqrt{54900} \\ R=234.31\text{ }m\/s \end{gathered}$

That is the magnitude of the resultant vector.