Question

Forces with magnitudes of 250 pounds and 130 pounds act on an object at angles of 45 degrees and -60 degrees respectively, with the positive -axis. Find the direction and magnitude of the resultant of these forces

Answer 1

start by drawing a picture like this.

then break each vector up into components using sin and cos and add them up. (so you add the x components with the x components, and y components with y components)

also notice that the 130lb force has a negative y component (its pointing downwards), while the 250lb force has a positive y component (its pointing upwards). Both forces have positive x components (they are both pointing to the right)

After you have the new components of the resultant vector you can find the magnitude by using pythag theorem.

and you can find the direction by using tan inverse.