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jdawg
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Homework Statement
So this isn't really a specific homework question, it's more of a general one. What is the difference between ax and i(hat)? I thought they were the same thing. Can someone please explain the difference?
It still isn't clear to me. Please provide a specific example or two.jdawg said:Sorry, yes that's what I meant. Like the x component of a vector a.
No. They are directions parallel to the axes. You express vectors as the sum of scalar components times the unit vectors so that you add and subtract the individual terms like vectors (so they automatically satisfy the parallelogram rule for adding and subtracting vectors). It makes it very convenient to handle them mathematically. In physics problems, you are often resolving vectors into their components perpendicular and tangent to surfaces. In such cases, the unit vectors perpendicular and tangent to the surfaces come in particularly handy, and they are often not parallel to the coordinate axes.jdawg said:Ohhh so i, j, and k aren't actually on the axes?
Unit vectors are vectors that have a magnitude of 1 and are used to represent direction. They are important because they simplify complex vector calculations by eliminating the need to consider magnitude and direction separately.
The components of a vector can be found using trigonometry. The x-component is calculated by multiplying the magnitude of the vector by the cosine of the angle between the vector and the x-axis. The y-component is calculated by multiplying the magnitude of the vector by the sine of the angle between the vector and the y-axis.
A vector is a quantity that has both magnitude and direction, while its components are the parts of the vector that represent its magnitude and direction in the x and y directions. A vector can be represented by its components, but its components cannot fully represent the vector.
Yes, unit vectors can have negative components. A negative component indicates that the vector is pointing in the opposite direction of the positive component. However, the magnitude of a unit vector will always be 1, regardless of the sign of its components.
To add or subtract vectors using their components, simply add or subtract the corresponding components of each vector. For example, to add two vectors with components (3,2) and (1,4), the result would be (4,6). To subtract, the components would be subtracted instead of added.