Question

Question 8 Find the unit vector in the direction of (2,-3). Write your answer in component form. Do not approximate any numbers in your answer.

Answer 1

Answer:

The unit vector in component form is $\hat{u} = \left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{13} },-\frac{3}{\sqrt{13}} \right)$ or $\hat{u} = \frac{2}{\sqrt{13}}\,i-\frac{3}{13}\,j$.

Step-by-step explanation:

Let be $\vec u = (2,-3)$, its unit vector is determined by following expression:

$\hat {u} = \frac{\vec u}{\|\vec u \|}$

Where $\|\vec u \|$ is the norm of $\vec u$, which is found by Pythagorean Theorem:

$\|\vec u\|=\sqrt{2^{2}+(-3)^{2}}$

$\|\vec u\| = \sqrt{13}$

Then, the unit vector is:

$\hat{u} = \frac{1}{\sqrt{13}} \cdot (2,-3)$

$\hat{u} = \left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{13} },-\frac{3}{\sqrt{13}} \right)$

The unit vector in component form is $\hat{u} = \left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{13} },-\frac{3}{\sqrt{13}} \right)$ or $\hat{u} = \frac{2}{\sqrt{13}}\,i-\frac{3}{13}\,j$.