How do you find the unit vector in the direction of the given vector of $u=<0,-2>$ ?

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Answer 1 · 2017-03-24T16:38:53

$hat u = langle 0, -1 rangle$

The unit vector, $hat u$ , is:

$hat u = (vec u)/(abs ( vec u))$

And:

$abs ( vec u) = sqrt(0^2 + (-2)^2) = 2$

(But we knew that anyway as it only has a $mathbf j$ component of magnitude 2.)

So:

$hat u = (langle 0, -2 rangle)/(2) = langle 0, -1 rangle$

How do you find the unit vector in the direction of the given vector of u=<0,-2>u=<0,-2>?