Approximate the horizontal and vertical components of the vector that is described.

Question

Approximate the horizontal and vertical components of the vector that is described. (Round your answers to two decimal places.)

A quarterback releases a football with a speed of 70 ft/sec at an angle of 40° with the horizontal.

horizontal    =	ft/sec
vertical    =	ft/sec

Answer 1

To solve this, imagine the velocity, 70 ft/s, as a hypotenuse of a right triangle. To solve for the horizontal component you will use cosine, because you are solving for the adjacent side of the triangle. set Cos(40)=X/70. X being the adjacent side and 70 being the hypotenuse. Then solve for X using 70Cos(40) which will give you a horizontal component of 53.623 ft. Similarly, the vertical compontnet will be solved using 70sin(40). This is because Sin is opposite over hypotenuse, and the vertical compontent is opposite of the angle, 40°. The vertical output is 44.995 ft.