Problem

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Margaret walks to the store using the following path: 0.650 mi west, 0.420 mi north, 0.110 mi east. Assume north to be along the $+y$-axis and west to be along the $-x$-axis.
Find the direction of the displacement vector. Enter the answer as an angle north of west north of west

Answer

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Answer

Final Answer: The direction of the displacement vector is \(\boxed{142.13}\) degrees north of west.

Steps

Step 1 :Margaret walks to the store using the following path: 0.650 mi west, 0.420 mi north, 0.110 mi east. We assume north to be along the +y-axis and west to be along the -x-axis.

Step 2 :We represent each of these steps as vectors: west = [-0.65, 0], north = [0, 0.42], east = [0.11, 0].

Step 3 :We add these vectors together to get the total displacement vector: total = [-0.54, 0.42].

Step 4 :We find the direction of this vector using the arctangent of the ratio of the y component to the x component, which gives us -37.8749836510982 degrees.

Step 5 :However, the question asks for the angle north of west, which is the same as the angle measured counterclockwise from the negative x-axis. Therefore, we add 180 degrees to the direction to get the final answer: direction_adjusted = 142.1250163489018 degrees.

Step 6 :Final Answer: The direction of the displacement vector is \(\boxed{142.13}\) degrees north of west.

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