Problem 4 - Unit Vectors

Geometry Level pending

Suppose a vector v = 2 i 14 j v=2i-14j . Find the unit vector u u which has the same direction as v v .

i 5 2 + 7 j 5 2 \frac{i}{5\sqrt{2}}+\frac{-7j}{-5\sqrt{2}} i 5 2 + 7 j 5 2 \frac{i}{5\sqrt{2}}+\frac{7j}{5\sqrt{2}} i 5 2 + 7 j 5 2 \frac{i}{-5\sqrt{2}}+\frac{-7j}{5\sqrt{2}} i 5 2 + 7 j 5 2 \frac{i}{5\sqrt{2}}+\frac{-7j}{5\sqrt{2}}

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1 solution

Maximos Stratis
Jun 6, 2017

v = 2 i 14 j v=2i-14j
The slope of v v is 14 2 = 7 \frac{-14}{2}=-7
Assume that u = k i + l j u=k*i+l*j
u u must have a slope of 7 -7 .
So: l k = 7 l = 7 k \frac{l}{k}=-7\Rightarrow l=-7k
Also, u u must be of length 1. That means:
k 2 + l 2 = 1 \sqrt{k^{2}+l^{2}}=1\Rightarrow
k 2 + ( 7 k ) 2 = 1 k^{2}+(-7k)^{2}=1\Rightarrow
50 k 2 = 1 50k^{2}=1\Rightarrow
k 2 = 1 50 k^{2}=\frac{1}{50}\Rightarrow
k = 1 5 2 k=\frac{1}{5\sqrt{2}}
And l = 7 5 2 l=\frac{-7}{5\sqrt{2}}
Therefor:
u = i 5 2 + 7 j 5 2 \boxed{u=\frac{i}{5\sqrt{2}}+\frac{-7j}{5\sqrt{2}}}

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