Lectures on Physics has been derived from Benjamin Crowell's Light and Matter series of free introductory textbooks on physics. See the editorial for more information....

Homework Problems

The figure shows vectors A and B. Graphically calculate the following:

A + B, A - B, B - A, -2B, A - 2B

No numbers are involved.


Phnom Penh is 470 km east and 250 km south of Bangkok. Hanoi is 60 km east and 1030 km north of Phnom Penh.

(a) Choose a coordinate system, and translate these data into Δx and Δy values with the proper plus and minus signs.

(b) Find the components of the Δr vector pointing from Bangkok to Hanoi.


If you walk 35 km at an angle 25 ° counterclockwise from east, and then 22 km at 230 ° counterclockwise from east, find the distance and direction from your starting point to your destination.
A machinist is drilling holes in a piece of aluminum according to the plan shown in the figure. She starts with the top hole, then moves to the one on the left, and then to the one on the right. Since this is a high-precision job, she finishes by moving in the direction and at the angle that should take her back to the top hole, and checks that she ends up in the same place. What are the distance and direction from the right-hand hole to the top one?




Last Update: 2010-11-11