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How do you combine perpendicular vector components into a total vector?

In this tutorial you will learn how to find the total length of a vector from only the vector component lengths.

Summary

  1. vtot with no arrow above it means the length of the vtot vector
  2. vtot is sum of vy and vx
  3. vy and vx are the y- and x- components of vector vtot

Notes

    1. vx, vy, and vtot with no arrow on top means just the length of the vx, vy, and vtot vectors
    1. Apply the pythagorean theorem to the triangle made up of the vector components
    1. The square root of vtot squared is just vtot