A plane is flying with a speed of 500 mph northeast at an altitude of 10,000 miles shortly after taking off.

Question

Sketch its velocity vector v, and find its coordinate representation.

 Suppose that suddenly the pilot realizes that the plane does not have enough fuel for the trip and turns around driving with a speed of 600 mph. Sketch the new velocity vector w and express it as a scalar multiple of v

Answer 1

The vector v is (500 sin 45) i + (500 cos 45) j

The w vector is 6/5 the speed in the opposite direction to v, so w = -6/5 v