Vector Sum

Geometry Level 3

Two vectors of length L L in the 2D plane have an angular separation of θ \theta . If the sum of the two vectors also has a length L L , by how many degrees are the two vectors separated?

Give your answer as a positive number between 0 and 180.


The answer is 120.

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1 solution

Achal Jain
Jan 6, 2017

The solution can be obtained by using parallelogram law of vector addition .

We know if that if A , B \overrightarrow { A } ,\overrightarrow { B } are two Vectors then the resultant Vector would be

R 2 = A 2 + B 2 + 2 A B c o s θ \left| {\overrightarrow { R } }^{ 2 } \right| = \left|{ \overrightarrow { A } }^{ 2 }\right| + \left|{ \overrightarrow { B } }^{ 2 }\right| +2ABcos\theta .

Now We can see that the case would be possible only if

2 cos θ = 1 2\cos\theta = -1

or cos θ = 1 / 2 \cos\theta =-1/2 and cos 120 = 1 / 2 \cos120=-1/2 . Hence the Angle θ = 120 \theta\ =120 .

I think you meant 2 cos θ = 1 2\cos \theta = -1 ?

Christopher Boo - 4 years, 5 months ago

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Thanks for the correction

Achal Jain - 4 years, 5 months ago

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