3.
3 • Vector Addition and Subtraction: Analytical Methods 111
perpendicular axes (such as north and east), so that right triangles are involved. The analytical techniques
presented in Vector Addition and Subtraction: Analytical Methods are ideal for finding vector components.
PHET EXPLORATIONS
Maze Game
Learn about position, velocity, and acceleration in the "Arena of Pain". Use the green arrow to move the ball. Add
more walls to the arena to make the game more difficult. Try to make a goal as fast as you can.
Click to view content (https://openstax.org/l/28mazegame).
3.3 Vector Addition and Subtraction: Analytical Methods
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Understand the rules of vector addition and subtraction using analytical methods.
• Apply analytical methods to determine vertical and horizontal component vectors.
• Apply analytical methods to determine the magnitude and direction of a resultant vector.
Analytical methods of vector addition and subtraction employ geometry and simple trigonometry rather than the
ruler and protractor of graphical methods. Part of the graphical technique is retained, because vectors are still
represented by arrows for easy visualization. However, analytical methods are more concise, accurate, and precise
than graphical methods, which are limited by the accuracy with which a drawing can be made. Analytical methods
are limited only by the accuracy and precision with which physical quantities are known.
Resolving a Vector into Perpendicular Components
Analytical techniques and right triangles go hand-in-hand in physics because (among other things) motions along
perpendicular directions are independent. We very often need to separate a vector into perpendicular components.
For example, given a vector like in Figure 3.24, we may wish to find which two perpendicular vectors, and ,
add to produce it.
FIGURE 3.24 The vector , with its tail at the origin of an x, y-coordinate system, is shown together with its x- and y-components, and
. These vectors form a right triangle. The analytical relationships among these vectors are summarized below.
and are defined to be the components of along the x- and y-axes. The three vectors , , and form a
right triangle:
3.3
Note that this relationship between vector components and the resultant vector holds only for vector quantities
(which include both magnitude and direction). The relationship does not apply for the magnitudes alone. For
example, if east, north, and north-east, then it is true that the vectors
. However, it is not true that the sum of the magnitudes of the vectors is also equal. That is,
112 3 • Two-Dimensional Kinematics
3.4
Thus,
3.5
If the vector is known, then its magnitude (its length) and its angle (its direction) are known. To find and
, its x- and y-components, we use the following relationships for a right triangle.
3.6
and
3.7
FIGURE 3.25 The magnitudes of the vector components and can be related to the resultant vector and the angle with
trigonometric identities. Here we see that and .
Suppose, for example, that is the vector representing the total displacement of the person walking in a city
considered in Kinematics in Two Dimensions: An Introduction and Vector Addition and Subtraction: Graphical
Methods.
FIGURE 3.26 We can use the relationships and to determine the magnitude of the horizontal and vertical
component vectors in this example.
Then blocks and , so that
3.8
3.9
Calculating a Resultant Vector
If the perpendicular components and of a vector are known, then can also be found analytically. To find
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3.3 • Vector Addition and Subtraction: Analytical Methods 113
the magnitude and direction of a vector from its perpendicular components and , relative to the x-axis,
we use the following relationships:
3.10
3.11
FIGURE 3.27 The magnitude and direction of the resultant vector can be determined once the horizontal and vertical components and
have been determined.
Note that the equation is just the Pythagorean theorem relating the legs of a right triangle to the
length of the hypotenuse. For example, if and are 9 and 5 blocks, respectively, then
blocks, again consistent with the example of the person walking in a city. Finally, the direction is
, as before.
Determining Vectors and Vector Components with Analytical Methods
Equations and are used to find the perpendicular components of a vector—that is,
to go from and to and . Equations and are used to find a vector
from its perpendicular components—that is, to go from and to and . Both processes are crucial to
analytical methods of vector addition and subtraction.
Adding Vectors Using Analytical Methods
To see how to add vectors using perpendicular components, consider Figure 3.28, in which the vectors and are
added to produce the resultant .
FIGURE 3.28 Vectors and are two legs of a walk, and is the resultant or total displacement. You can use analytical methods to
determine the magnitude and direction of .
If and represent two legs of a walk (two displacements), then is the total displacement. The person taking
the walk ends up at the tip of There are many ways to arrive at the same point. In particular, the person could
114 3 • Two-Dimensional Kinematics
have walked first in the x-direction and then in the y-direction. Those paths are the x- and y-components of the
resultant, and . If we know and , we can find and using the equations and
. When you use the analytical method of vector addition, you can determine the components or
the magnitude and direction of a vector.
Step 1. Identify the x- and y-axes that will be used in the problem. Then, find the components of each vector to be
added along the chosen perpendicular axes. Use the equations and to find the
components. In Figure 3.29, these components are , , , and . The angles that vectors and make
with the x-axis are and , respectively.
FIGURE 3.29 To add vectors and , first determine the horizontal and vertical components of each vector. These are the dotted vectors
, , and shown in the image.
Step 2. Find the components of the resultant along each axis by adding the components of the individual vectors
along that axis. That is, as shown in Figure 3.30,
3.12
and
3.13
FIGURE 3.30 The magnitude of the vectors and add to give the magnitude of the resultant vector in the horizontal direction.
Similarly, the magnitudes of the vectors and add to give the magnitude of the resultant vector in the vertical direction.
Components along the same axis, say the x-axis, are vectors along the same line and, thus, can be added to one
another like ordinary numbers. The same is true for components along the y-axis. (For example, a 9-block eastward
walk could be taken in two legs, the first 3 blocks east and the second 6 blocks east, for a total of 9, because they
are along the same direction.) So resolving vectors into components along common axes makes it easier to add
them. Now that the components of are known, its magnitude and direction can be found.
Step 3. To get the magnitude of the resultant, use the Pythagorean theorem:
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3.3 • Vector Addition and Subtraction: Analytical Methods 115
3.14
Step 4. To get the direction of the resultant relative to the x-axis:
3.15
The following example illustrates this technique for adding vectors using perpendicular components.
EXAMPLE 3.3
Adding Vectors Using Analytical Methods
Add the vector to the vector shown in Figure 3.31, using perpendicular components along the x- and y-axes.
The x- and y-axes are along the east–west and north–south directions, respectively. Vector represents the first
leg of a walk in which a person walks in a direction north of east. Vector represents the second leg, a
displacement of in a direction north of east.
FIGURE 3.31 Vector has magnitude and direction north of the x-axis. Vector has magnitude and direction
north of the x-axis. You can use analytical methods to determine the magnitude and direction of .
Strategy
The components of and along the x- and y-axes represent walking due east and due north to get to the same
ending point. Once found, they are combined to produce the resultant.
Solution
Following the method outlined above, we first find the components of and along the x- and y-axes. Note that
, , , and . We find the x-components by using , which
gives
3.16
and
3.17
Similarly, the y-components are found using :
3.18
and
3.19
116 3 • Two-Dimensional Kinematics
The x- and y-components of the resultant are thus
3.20
and
3.21
Now we can find the magnitude of the resultant by using the Pythagorean theorem:
3.22
so that
3.23
Finally, we find the direction of the resultant:
3.24
Thus,
3.25
FIGURE 3.32 Using analytical methods, we see that the magnitude of is and its direction is north of east.
Discussion
This example illustrates the addition of vectors using perpendicular components. Vector subtraction using
perpendicular components is very similar—it is just the addition of a negative vector.
Subtraction of vectors is accomplished by the addition of a negative vector. That is, . Thus, the
method for the subtraction of vectors using perpendicular components is identical to that for addition. The
components of are the negatives of the components of . The x- and y-components of the resultant
are thus
3.26
and
3.27
and the rest of the method outlined above is identical to that for addition. (See Figure 3.33.)
Analyzing vectors using perpendicular components is very useful in many areas of physics, because perpendicular
quantities are often independent of one another. The next module, Projectile Motion, is one of many in which using
perpendicular components helps make the picture clear and simplifies the physics.
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3.4 • Projectile Motion 117
FIGURE 3.33 The subtraction of the two vectors shown in Figure 3.28. The components of are the negatives of the components of .
The method of subtraction is the same as that for addition.
PHET EXPLORATIONS
Vector Addition
Learn how to add vectors. Drag vectors onto a graph, change their length and angle, and sum them together. The
magnitude, angle, and components of each vector can be displayed in several formats.
Click to view content (https://openstax.org/books/college-physics-2e/pages/3-3-vector-addition-and-subtraction-
analytical-methods)
3.4 Projectile Motion
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
By the end of this section, you will be able to:
• Identify and explain the properties of a projectile, such as acceleration due to gravity, range, maximum
height, and trajectory.
• Determine the location and velocity of a projectile at different points in its trajectory.
• Apply the principle of independence of motion to solve projectile motion problems.
Projectile motion is the motion of an object thrown or projected into the air, subject to only the acceleration of
gravity. The object is called a projectile, and its path is called its trajectory. The motion of falling objects, as covered
in Problem-Solving Basics for One-Dimensional Kinematics, is a simple one-dimensional type of projectile motion in
which there is no horizontal movement. In this section, we consider two-dimensional projectile motion, such as that
of a football or other object for which air resistance is negligible.
The most important fact to remember here is that motions along perpendicular axes are independent and thus can
be analyzed separately. This fact was discussed in Kinematics in Two Dimensions: An Introduction, where vertical
and horizontal motions were seen to be independent. The key to analyzing two-dimensional projectile motion is to
break it into two motions, one along the horizontal axis and the other along the vertical. (This choice of axes is the
most sensible, because acceleration due to gravity is vertical—thus, there will be no acceleration along the
horizontal axis when air resistance is negligible.) As is customary, we call the horizontal axis the x-axis and the
vertical axis the y-axis. Figure 3.34 illustrates the notation for displacement, where is defined to be the total
displacement and and are its components along the horizontal and vertical axes, respectively. The magnitudes of
these vectors are s, x, and y. (Note that in the last section we used the notation to represent a vector with
components and . If we continued this format, we would call displacement with components and .
However, to simplify the notation, we will simply represent the component vectors as and .)
Of course, to describe motion we must deal with velocity and acceleration, as well as with displacement. We must
find their components along the x- and y-axes, too. We will assume all forces except gravity (such as air resistance
and friction, for example) are negligible. The components of acceleration are then very simple:
. (Note that this definition assumes that the upwards direction is defined as the positive
