TRIANGLE

 Is the union of three segments determined by three noncollinear points

A C
D

 Sides: AB CB Altitude: BD
 Base: AC Hypotenuse: AB CB
Base: AD CD

 Perimeter = S1 + S2 + S3
 Area = ½ bh

Did you know that…

Bermuda Triangle (deadly triangle)
National Airlines Flight 727

Pythagorean Theorem
 Greek mathematician Pythagoras of Samos
 c2 = a2 + b2

Trigonometry
 deals with the relations between angles and sides of triangles
 Basic Trigonometric Functions

c
a

C A
b

opposite adjacent opposite

sine A = cosine A = tangent A =
hypotenuse hypotenuse adjacent

 Confunction:
hypotenuse hypotenuse adjacent
cos A = secA = cot A =
opposite adjacent opposite

1 Dorothy D. Silva 
Examples
1. In a right triangle ABC, where C is the right angle, angle A is 30°. The
hypotenuse is 8.0 cm. What is the length of side a and of side b?
2. In a right triangle ABC, where C is the right angle, B = 64° and b = 25. Find a
and c.
3. In a right triangle ABC, where C is the right angle, b = 25.0 and a = 9.0. Find c
and b.

The Law of Sines

 Applies to all triangles
 Measure of one side and other two measures
a b c
o = =
sin A sin B sin C
Examples:
1. a = 4 cm; c = 4.6 cm: C = 60°; A = ?
2. b = 4; A = 75°; B = 34°; a = ?
3. On a hill, inclined at angle of 14.2° with the horizontal, stands a vertical
tower. At a point P, 62.5 m down the hill from the foot of the tower, the angle of elevation of the top of
the tower is 43.6°. How tall is the tower?
4. A ladder 35.4 ft long is leaning against an embankment inclined at 62.5° to
the horizontal. If the bottom of the ladder is 10.2 ft from the embankment, what is the distance from
the top of the ladder down the embankment to the ground?
5. A building is locate4d at the end of a street that is inclined at an angle of
8.4° with the horizontal. At a point P, 210 m down the street from the building, the angle subtended by
the building is 15.6°. How tall is the building?
6. A flagpole is situated at the top of a building 115 ft tall. From a point in
the same horizontal plane as the base of the building, the angles of elevation of the top and bottom of
the flagpole are 63.2° and 58.6°, respectively. How tall is the flagpole?
7. To determine the distance across a straight river, a surveyor chooses two
point P and Q on the bank where the distance between P and Q is 200 m. At each of these points, a point
R on the opposite bank is sighted. The angle having sides PQ and PR is measured to be 63.1° and the
angle having sides PQ and QR is measured to be 80.4°. What is the distance across the river?
8. A ramp is inclined at angle of 41.3° with the ground. One end of a board,
20.6 ft in length, is located on the ground at a point P, 12.2 ft from the base Q of the ramp, and the
other end rests on the ramp at point R. Find the distance from point Q up the ramp to point R.

2 Dorothy D. Silva 
The Law of Cosines
 Applies to all triangles
 Measure of two sides and the included angle between them is known
 If an angle is more than 90, then its cosine is negative and numerically equal to the cosine of its
supplement
o c2 = a2 + b2 – 2ab cos C
o b2 = c2 + a2 – 2ac cos B
o a2 = c2 + b2 – 2bc cos A

Examples:
1. a = 4 cm; b = 5 cm; C = 60°; c = ?
2. a = 24; c = 32; B = 64°; b = ?
3. Two ships leave the same port at the same time. One ship sails on a course of 125° at
18 knots while the other sails on a course of 230° at 24 knots. Find after 3 hours the distance between
the ships.
4. A tower 23.5 m tall makes an angle of 110.2° with the inclined road on which it is
located. Determine the angle subtended by the tower at a point down the road 28.2 m from its foot.
5. A point P is 1.4 km from one end of a lake and 2.2 km from the other end. If at P the
lake subtends an angle of 54°, what is the length of the lake?
6. Two points P and Q are on opposite sides of a building. To determine the distance
between these points, a third point R is selected where the distance from P to R is 50.2 m and the
distance from Q to R is 61.4 m. The angle formed by the line segments PR and QR is measured as 62.5°.
Determine the distance from P to Q.
7. Two straight roads intersect at a point P and make an angle of 42.6° there. At a point
R on one road is a building that is 368 m from P and at a point S on the other road is a building that is
426 m from P. Determine the direct distance from R to S.

3 Dorothy D. Silva 
Physical Quantities
1. Scalars
 Can be described by a single number giving its size or magnitude (number plus units)
 25 kg, 4 hours. 9.8 km, 63.2 °C
2. Vectors
 Can be described by both magnitude and direction
 56 m/s W, 78 N upward, 23 m/s2 to the right

Vector Representation
 Represented by an arrow
o Tail – indicates the starting point
o Arrowhead – end point (direction)
 Scale
o 1 cm : 5 km
o 1 cm : 100 m

Cartesian plane

Examples:
1. A force of 90 dynes North 40° East / a force of 90 dynes 40° East of North
2. An acceleration of 60 m/s2 30° West of North / an acceleration of 60 m/s 2 North 30°
West
3. A linear momentum of 50 kg·m/s South
4. A displacement of 80 km Southwest / a displacement of 80 km 45° South of West / a
displacement of 80 km West 45° South

4 Dorothy D. Silva 
 Which one is a vector quantity? Scalar quantity? Answers:
1. 100 m2 1. Scalar
2. 120 km/h East of Batanes 2. Vector
3. 4567 dynes downward 3. Vector
4. 23 g/cm3 4. Scalar
5. 56 newtons 5. Scalar
6. 71 mi/s 6. Scalar
7. 896 kg·m/s West 7. Vector
8. 56 m/s 60° South of East 8. Vector
9. 56 kg 9. Scalar
10. 97 km southeast 10. Vector

Draw the following vectors using ruler and protractor. Label all components.
1. 40 newtons SE
2. 15 m/s 25° SW
3. 120 km E 35° S
4. 78 cm/s2 N
5. 900 dynes W 60° N

Resultant vector
 The sum of two or more vectors

Vector addition
 Process of combining or adding two or more vectors

Graphical method
 Uses scaling (scaling process helps you in cases where big magnitudes have to be reduced to smaller
units.
 The tail-head method of drawing the vector is one way of getting the resultant vector. This is a way
wherein the second vector is drawn such that its tail is connected to the arrowhead of the first
vector. The resultant is measured from the tail of the first vector to the head of the second vector.

Sample Problems: (one dimension)

1. Trixie walks 400 m East, stops to rest and then continues 600 m East.
Scale: 1 cm : 100 m

d1 = 400 m E d2 = 600 m E

5 Dorothy D. Silva 
 dR = 1,000 m E (resultant displacement)

2. Stephen walks home from school 250 m East and remembers that he has to bring home her
Science book which a classmate borrowed. He walks back 675 m West to his classmate’s house.
Scale: 1 cm : 100 m

d1 = 250 m E d2 = 675 m W

dR = 425 m W

Parallelogram method
Sample Problem: (2 dimensions)
1. Ming walks 500 m East and then turns North and walks 300 m. Find the resultant vector.
Scale: 1 cm : 100 m

dR = 580 m
31° NE
d2 = 300 m

Θ = 31°

d1 = 500 m

Polygon method
Sample Problem: (more than 2 vectors in different dimensions)
1. Mark walks 600 m East, then turns 400 m North and finally walks 300 m West.
Scale: 1 cm: 100 m

d3 = 300 m

dR = 500 m
54° NE
d2 = 400 m

Θ = 54°

d1 = 600 m

6 Dorothy D. Silva 
 Draw vector diagrams to solve each problem. Label all components.
1. A car moves 10 km North, then turns 20 km West. What is the total
displacement of the car?
2. A hiker walks 50 m East, then 200 m South and finally 400 m West.
What is the resultant displacement of the hiker from the starting point?

dR = 22.4 km d1 = 10 km
Θ = 63.4°
63.4° West of North

d2 = 20 km

d1 = 50 m

Θ = 30°
dR = 405.00 m
30° South of West d2 = 200 m

d3 = 400 m

7 Dorothy D. Silva 
Vector Resolution
 Process of finding the magnitudes of the components in certain directions
 Two new vectors in directions that are perpendicular to each other
Sample Problem:
A man exerts a force of 60 N along the handle of a lawn mower to push it across the lawn. If the
handle is held at an angle of 30° with the lawn, what are the horizontal and vertical components of the
force exerted by the man?

Given: F = 60 N, 30°
Find: a. Fx (horizontal component of the force)
b. Fy (vertical component of the force)

Solution:

F = 60N

Fy

Θ = 30°

Fx

Fx (adjacent side)
a. cos 30° =
F (hypotenuse)
Fx
cos 30° =
60 N
Fx = (60 N) (cos 30°)
Fx = 52.2 N

Fy (opposite side)
b. sin 30° =
F ( hypotenuse)
Fy
sin 30° =
60 N
Fy = (60 N) (sin 30°)
Fx = 30.0 N

8 Dorothy D. Silva 
 Solve for the components of the following:
1. A cabinet is pulled across a cemented floor with a rope that makes an
angle of 35° with the floor. What is the component of the force parallel
and perpendicular to the floor if a 90-N force is exerted?
2. The wind blows toward 40° with a velocity of 50 km/h. What is the
vertical and horizontal components of the wind’s velocity?

1.

F= 90 N
Fy
Θ = 35°
Fx

Solution:
Fx
a. cos 35° =
90 N
Fx = (90 N) (cos 35°)
Fx = 73.72 N

Fy
b. sin 35° =
90 N
Fy = (90 N) (sin 35°)
Fy = 51.62 N

2.
V = 50 km/hr
Fy
Θ = 40°
Fx

Solution:
Fx
a. cos 40° = 50 km / hr
Fx = (50 km/hr) (cos 40°)
Fx = 38.30 km/hr

Fy
b. sin 40° = 50 km / hr
Fy = (50 km/hr) (sin 40°)
Fy = 32.14 km/hr

Analytical method

9 Dorothy D. Silva 
 Adding vectors in the same or in the opposite direction
o v1 = 30 m/s E and v2 = 25 m/s E
 30 m/s + 25 m/s = 55 m/s E

o d1 = 12 m N and d2 = 24 m S
 24 m – 12 m = 12 m S

 Adding vectors at right angles to each other

o F1 = 8 newtons E and 7 newtons N
 (FR)2 = 82 + 72 FR
 FR = 64newtons  49newtons 7N
 FR = 10.63 N
Θ
7 newtons
o tan θ = 8N
8newtons
 tan θ = 0.875
 θ = 41.19°

 FR = 10.63 newtons 41.19° NE

 Adding vectors using the component method

Sample Problems:
a) An ant crawls on a tabletop. It moves 2 cm East, turns 3 cm 40° North of East and finally
moves 2.5 cm North. What is the ant’s total displacement?

2.5 cm
dR
3 cm
40°

2 cm

d1 = 2 cm East d2x = (3 cm) (cos 40°)

d2 = 3 cm 40° NE d2x = 2.30 cm
d3 = 2.5 cm N
d2y = (3 cm) (sin 40°)
d2y = 1.93 cm

10 Dorothy D. Silva 
 distance dx (cm) dy (cm)
2 cm E 2.00 0
3 cm 40° NE 2.30 1.93
2.5 cm N 0 2.50
Σ 4.30 cm 4.43 cm

dR = ( dx ) 2  ( dy ) 2
dR = (4.30) 2  ( 4.43) 2
dR = 6.17 cm

dy
tan θ =
dx
4.43 4.43
tan θ = θ = tan-1 θ = 45.85° N of E
4.30 4.30

dR = 6.17 cm 45.85° North of East

b) An ant crawls on a tabletop. It moves 2 cm North, turns 3 cm West and finally moves 5 cm
South. What is the ant’s total displacement?

3 cm
2 cm
5 cm

dR

d1 = 2 cm North distance dx (cm) dy (cm)

d2 = 3 cm West 2 cm North 0 2.00
d3 = 5 cm South 3 cm West -3.00 0
2.5 cm South 0 -5.00
Σ -3.00 cm -3.00 cm

dR = ( dx ) 2  ( dy ) 2

11 Dorothy D. Silva 
 dR = ( 3.00) 2  ( 3.00) 2
dR = 4.24 cm

dy
tan θ =
dx
3.00 3.00
tan θ = θ = tan-1 θ = 45° SW
3.00 3.00

dR = 4.24 cm 45° Southwest

c)

40 N 60 N
30°
45°

20°
50 N

F1 = 60 N F2 = 40 N F3 = 50 N
F1x = (60 N) (sin 30°) F2x = (40 N) (cos 45°) F3x = (50 N) (sin 20°)
F1x = 30 N F2x = 28.28 N F3x = 17.10 N

F1y = (60 N) (cos 30°) F2y = (40 N) (sin 45°) F3y = (50 N) (cos 20°)
F1y = 51.96 N F2y = 28.28 N F3y = 46.98 N

Force Fx (N) Fy (N)

60 N 30° E of N 30 51.96
40 N 45° NW -28.28 28.28
50 N 20° E of S 17.10 -46.98
Σ 18.82 N 33.26 N

FR = ( Fx) 2  ( Fy ) 2
FR = (18.82) 2  (33.26) 2

12 Dorothy D. Silva 
 FR = 38.22 N

Fy
tan θ =
Fx
33.26 33.26
tan θ = θ = tan-1 θ = 60.50° N of E
18.82 18.82

FR = 38.22 N 60.50° North of East

1. A jogger runs 14.5 m in a direction 20° east of north and then 105 m in a
direction θ = 35° south of east. Determine the magnitude and direction of
the resultant vector C for these two displacements.

2. You are on a treasure hunt and your map says “Walk due west for 52
paces, then walk 30° north of west for 42 paces, and finally walk due
north for 25 paces.” What is the magnitude and direction of the resultant
vector?

3. Mary leaves the office, drives 26 km due North and turns onto a street
and continues in a direction 30° NE for 35 km and finally turns onto the
highway due east for 40 km. What is her total displacement from the
office?

1. Given: d1 = 14.5 m 20° E of N

d2 = 105 m 35° S of E
Req: dR

20°
30°

displacement dx (m) dy (m)

14.5 m 20° E of N 4.96 13.63
105 m 35° S of E 86.01 -60.23
Σ 90.97 m -46.6 m

13 Dorothy D. Silva 
 dR = ( dx ) 2  ( dy ) 2
dR = (90.97) 2  ( 46.6) 2
dR = 102.21 m

dy
tan θ =
dx
46.6 46.6
tan θ = θ = tan-1 θ = 27.12° S of E
90.97 90.97

FR = 102.21 m 27.12° South of East

2. Given: d1 = 52 paces W
d2 = 42 paces 30° N of W
d3 = 25 paces N
Req: dR

25
42 paces dR
paces
30°
52 paces θ

displacement dx (paces) dy (paces)

52 paces W - 52 0
42 paces 30° N of W 36.37 21
25 paces N 0 25
Σ -15.63 paces 46 paces

dR = ( dx ) 2  ( dy ) 2
dR = ( 15.63) 2  ( 46) 2
dR = 48.58 paces

dy
tan θ =
dx

14 Dorothy D. Silva 
 46 46
tan θ = θ = tan-1 θ = 71.23° N of W
15.63 15.63

FR = 48.58 paces 71.23° North of West

3. Given: d1 = 26 km N
1. One displacement vector A has a magnitude of 2.43 km and points due north. A second
d2 = 35 km 30° N of E
displacement vector B has a magnitude of 7.74 km and also points due north. (a) Find the
d3 = 40 km E 40 km
magnitude and direction of A – B. (b) Find the magnitude and direction of B – A.
Req: dR 35 km
2. A chimpanzee sitting against his favorite tree gets up and walks 51 km due east and 39 m due
30°
south to reach a termite mound, where he eats lunch. (a) What is the shortest distance between
the tree and the termite mound? (b) What angle does the shortest distance make with respect
dR
to due east?
26 km
3. A hiker leaves camp and walks 10 km due north. The hiker then walks 10 km due east. Determine
the total displacement walked by the hiker.
Θ
4. A frog hops four times; twice forward, once to the right, and once forward again. Each hop
covers a distance of 28 cm. What is the magnitude of the frog’s displacement?
5. A salesperson leaves the office and drives 26 km due north along a straight highway. A turn is
made onto a highway that leads in a direction 30° north of east. The driver continues on the
highway for a distance of 62 km and then stops. What is the total displacement of the
salesperson from the office?
displacement dx (km) dy (km)
6. A 100-N force and a 50-N force act on an object. The 100-N force acts due north. The 50-N
26 km 0 26
force acts due east. What is the magnitude and direction of the resultant force?
35 km 30° N of E 30.31 17.5
7. Determine the magnitude of the resultant of a 40-N force and a 70-N force acting concurrently
40 km E 40 0
when the angle between them is
a. 0° Σ 70.31 km 43.5 km
b. 30°
c. 60°
d. 90° dR = ( dx ) 2  ( dy ) 2
e. 180° dR = (70.31) 2  ( 43.5) 2
8. An ostrich is running at a speed
dR = 82.68 km of 17.0 m/s in a direction of 68.0° north of west. What is the
magnitude of the ostrich’s velocity components?
9. A 60-N force acts 45° dy west of south. An 80-N force acts 45° north of west. The two forces
tan θ =
act on the same object. dxWhat is the magnitude and direction of the resultant force?
10. A 60-N force acting at 43 30°.5east of north and a second43 60-N
.5 force acting in the direction 60°
tan θ =
west of north are concurrent θ = tan -1
andθ direction
= 31.74° Nofofthe
E resultant
70.31 forces. Determine the magnitude
70.31
force.
11. Two forces are Fapplied to a tree stump to pull it out of the ground. Force A has a magnitude of
R = 82.68 km 31.74° North of East
2240 N and points 34° south of east, while Force B has a magnitude of 3160 N and points due
south. Using component method, find the magnitude and direction of the resultant force that is
applied to the stump. Specify the direction with respect to due east.
12. Find the resultant of the three displacement vectors by means of component method. Vector A
is 5.00 m 20° north of west, Vector B is 5.00 m 60° north of east, and Vector C is 4.00 m south.
13. Vector A has a magnitude of 6.00 units and points due east. Vector B points due north. (a) What
is the magnitude of B, if the vector A+B points 60.0° north of east? (b) Find the magnitude of A
+ B.
14. The route followed by a hiker consists of three displacement vectors: A, B, and C. Vector A is
along a measured trail and is 1550 m in a direction 25.0° north of east. Vector B is not along a
measured trail, but the hiker uses a compass and knows that the direction is 41.0° east of south.
Similarly, the direction of Vector C is 35.0° 15
north of west. The hiker ends upDorothy
back where she 
D. Silva
started, so the resultant displacement is zero, or A+B+C = 0. Find the magnitudes of (a) Vector B
and (b) Vector C.
16 Dorothy D. Silva 