How to Get Magnitude & Direction of Parallelogram
- 1). Find the x-component of the resultant vector by adding the x-components of the vectors being added. Do the same to find the y-component. For example, given the vectors (-1, -2) and (2, -1), the sum is (1, -3).
- 2). Calculate the magnitude of the vector with the formula M = sqrt(x^2 + y^2), where M is the magnitude and x and y are the components of the resultant vector. For example, M = sqrt(1^2 + (-3)^2) = 3.16.
- 3). Find the direction with the formula A = arctan(y/x), where A is the angle with respect to the x-axis. For example, A = artan(-3/1) = -71.6 degrees.
