The period T is time it takes for one complete cycle or from "trough to trough" so the reverse is trough per sec = 1/T = frequency
If your speed changes from 10 km/h to 6 km/h then
you have an acceleration.
Whether it's a positive or negative one completely depends
on which direction you decided to call the positive direction,
when you started considering your speed and its changes.
If you decided to call the direction in which you're traveling
the positive direction, then a decrease in your speed is a
negative acceleration.
But you could just as easily have said that you're traveling
in the negative direction. If you did that, then a decrease in
your speed would be a positive acceleration.
It's completely up to you, and how you define things.
A trough is the lowest point in a wave.
For the answer to the question above, each horse's force forms a right angle triangle with the barge and subtends an angle of 60/2 = 30°. The resultant in the direction of the barge's motion is:
Fx = Fcos(∅)
We can multiply this by 2 to find the resultant of both horses.
Fx = 2Fcos(∅)
Fx = 2 x 720cos(30)
Fx = 1247 N
