VECTOR ADDITION USING COSINE AND SINE LAW

Cosine Law Sine Law

VECTOR ADDITION USING COSINE AND SINE LAW

Example
Given that 𝒗 = 𝟏𝟎, 𝟎𝒐 and 𝒖 = 𝟔, 𝟓𝟎𝒐 , find the magnitude and
direction of 𝒖 + 𝒗.
Solution Using the cosine law,
𝑢 + 𝑣Ԧ = 102 + 62 − 2 10 6 𝑐𝑜𝑠 1300
𝒖 + 𝒗 = 𝟏𝟒. 𝟔
𝒖+𝒗 𝒖
6
𝟏𝟑𝟎𝒐
𝜽 𝟓𝟎𝒐 Using the sine law,
𝒗 10 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜽 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟏𝟑𝟎𝒐 𝟔𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟏𝟑𝟎𝒐
= → 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝜽 =
𝟔 𝟏𝟒. 𝟔 𝟏𝟒. 𝟔
𝒐
𝟔𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟏𝟑𝟎
𝜽 = 𝒔𝒊𝒏−𝟏 = 𝟏𝟖. 𝟑𝒐
𝟏𝟒. 𝟔
VECTOR ADDITION USING COSINE AND SINE LAW

Example
A PAL pilot heads west with an air velocity of 170 km/h. She does
not account for the wind blowing at 90.5 km/h 34.0° N of E. What
is the resultant ground velocity of her plane?
𝑘𝑚 𝑘𝑚
𝑢 = 170 , 𝑊𝑒𝑠𝑡 𝑣Ԧ = 90.5 , 34.0° 𝑁 𝑜𝑓 𝐸
ℎ ℎ
Using the cosine law,
𝑅 = 1702 + 90.52 − 2 170 90.5 𝑐𝑜𝑠 34.00
𝑣Ԧ 𝑅 𝑘𝑚
𝑅 = 𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟔𝟏
34.0° 𝜙
ℎ

𝑢 Using the sine law,

𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝜙 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟒. 𝟎𝒐 𝟗𝟎. 𝟓𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟒𝒐
= → 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝜙 =
𝟗𝟎. 𝟓 𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟔𝟏 𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟔𝟏
−𝟏
𝟗𝟎. 𝟓𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟒𝒐
𝜙 = 𝒔𝒊𝒏 = 𝟐𝟖. 𝟎𝟓𝒐
𝟏𝟎𝟕. 𝟔𝟏
𝜃 = 180° − 28.05° = 𝟏𝟓𝟏. 𝟗𝟓°