Question

The summit of a mountain,2450m above base camp,is measured on a map to be 4580m horizontally from thecamp in a direction 38.4°west of north.What are the compo-nents of the displacement vector from camp to summit?What is its magnitude?Choose the x axis east, y axis north,and z axis up

Answer 1

you already know the z axis component
do you know how to resolve the 4580 m into north and east components?

Answer 2

i think the question is badly worded. my first impression was that the 4850m horizontally was to be used as the x axis component

Answer 3

4850 horizontally is sqrt(x^2+y^2)

Answer 4

so is 4850m the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed from the x-axis and y-axis?

Answer 5

yes

Answer 6

ok based on that logic then the x axis component is -2450m, the y axis component is 3870m, the z axis component (given) is 2450m

Answer 7

I thought the question implied that the 4850m was the x axis component because it says the summit of the mountain is 4850m "horizontally" It is badly worded

Answer 8

horizontally = not vertically

Answer 9

there are two horizontal dimensions

Answer 10

but your error is understandable, I think I made that once or twice myself

Answer 11

so the final magnitude is what?

Answer 12

oh okay thanks, then the problem should really say "diagonally". i thought i was the only one with that logic when i approached the problem.

Answer 13

the magnitude comes out to 5190m as the displacement vector to the summit from camp

Answer 14

about that, yes. good job.

Answer 15

thanks for the help :)