Chapter 9.2, Problem 45SPR

To determine

To find:Thedifference between the vectors.

Answer to Problem 45SPR

The difference of two vectors is shown in figure (2).

Explanation of Solution

Given information:

The given vectors are shown in figure (1).

  

Figure (1)

Calculation:

Parallelogram law of addition which states that if two vectors are given by two sides of parallelogram, then the diagonal through the point of the intersection of two vectors gives the resultant of the two vectors.

Calculate the difference between two vectors.

Place vectors such that end point of tail of one vector touches end point of the tail of other vector.

Negative of a vector is the vector with same length but opposite direction, so $\overrightarrow{-p}$ is the vector with length same as $\overrightarrow{p}$ but in opposite direction. Draw $\overrightarrow{-p}$ with tail ending at the end point of $\overrightarrow{p}$ .

These two vectors, $\overrightarrow{n}$ and $\overrightarrow{-p}$ represents two sides of parallelogram. Now draw a diagonal though the intersection of two tails.

The above diagonal represents the difference of two vectors is shown in figure (2).

  

Figure (2)

Therefore, the difference of two vectors is shown in figure (2).