Question

Find the resultant displacement of a bear searching for berries on the mountain. The bear heads 55.0º north of west for 15.0 m; then it turns and heads to the west for another 7.00 m. (Use trigonometry to answer, but remember to draw a diagram to help your understanding.) Give both the magnitude and the angle in your answer.

Answer 1

Hi Welcome to OpenStudy @13whitneyh

First, you have to draw a diagram:


To solve for the resultant displacement: you can resolve the 15 m vector into components, x and y.

Answer 2

Since the x component of the 15 m vector has the same direction with the 7m horizontal vector, you just have to add them.
Rx= 15 cos (55) + 7

Since 7m vector only lies on the horizontal, it means that your Ry will only be the y-component of the 15 m vector:
Ry= 15sin(55)

Once you find those two values, you can easily find the Resultant vector using the Pythagorean theorem :)