What is the net force of 5.0N and 10 N acting on an object if the two forces are in the same direction?

Question

A real question about my math from science class trying to learn about the distance and I use math to solve these questions, I havnet had good math training and I am learning from this site as much as I can

Answer 1

If we assume that there are no other natural forces in this problem, i.e. no air resistance, frictional surface,etc (which is normally stated in the problem but just to make sure) the 2 forces are in the same direction so the net force on the object would be 15 N (you can add 10+5 because they are in the same direction) in that stated direction. Forces on an object can only be added if they are in the same direction, and only subtracted if they are working in opposite directions. Let’s assume both forces worked in the forward direction, then we can add them, if the question asked if I have one force of 5N in the backwards direction, and 10 N in the forward direction what is the net force, then you subtract them to get a net force or 5N in the forward direction. But if the problem said 10N in the forward direction with 5N in the upward direction you would need to know more information to solve for the net force in the combined direction of forward and up, but I can’t just flat out add them together.

Hope this helps!