How do you find the length and direction of vector -4 - 3i43i?

1 Answer
Nov 21, 2015

Length = 5=5

Direction = (tan^{-1}(frac{3}{4})-pi)=(tan1(34)π) rad counterclockwise from the Real axis.

Explanation:

Let z=-4-3iz=43i. zz represents a vector on an Argand diagram.

The magnitude of the vector is the modulus of zz, which is found using the Pythagoras theorem.

|z|=sqrt((-4)^2+(-3)^2)=5|z|=(4)2+(3)2=5

The direction of the vector the principal argument of zz, which is found using trigonometry.

The basic angle, alpha=tan^{-1}(frac{3}{4})α=tan1(34).

Since "Re"(z)<0Re(z)<0 and "Im"(z)<0Im(z)<0, the angle lies in the third quadrant.

"arg"(z)=-(pi-alpha)arg(z)=(πα)

=tan^{-1}(frac{3}{4})-pi=tan1(34)π