As a reference, please look at the attached image. From the magnitude and direction of the vector we can compute its horizontal and vertical components as:
<h3>Further explanation</h3>
A vector, in the wider sense of knowledge, is a mathematical tool which shapes itself according to the user's insight. This means that vectors can represent many things... In physics, for example, we imagine vectors as pointy arrows which have a size and a direction.
Having the size and the direction, it is easy to compute the components of a vector with respect of a reference frame. The computation is very simple because, as it is seen in the attached image, we can compute the <em>x</em> and <em>y</em> component of the vector with trigonometry. By using the right triangle with angle 23.4º, we get that:
Having these 2, it is easy to obtain the magnitude of vector <em>V</em> and its direction. The magnitude will be given by pythagoras theorem since:
And it's direction will be given by:
radians
Which represents an angle of 156.6º with respect to the positive side of the <em>x</em> axis (so 23.4º with the negative side of the <em>x</em> axis).
<h3>Learn more</h3>
<h3>Keywords</h3>
Vectors, angles, horizontal component, vertical component