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Intro to Motion in 2D: Position & Displacement definitions Flashcards

Intro to Motion in 2D: Position & Displacement definitions
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  • Two-dimensional motion
    Movement in a plane involving both X and Y axes, often represented through vector equations.
  • Position vector
    A vector pointing from the origin to a specific point, represented as r with components X and Y.
  • Displacement
    The shortest path between two points, represented as a vector with X and Y components.
  • Vector
    A quantity with both magnitude and direction, used to represent position and displacement.
  • Components
    The X and Y parts of a vector, calculated using trigonometric functions like cosine and sine.
  • Magnitude
    The length of a vector, calculated using the Pythagorean theorem for displacement.
  • Direction
    The angle of a vector, determined using the tangent inverse of the Y component over the X component.
  • Pythagorean theorem
    A formula to calculate the magnitude of a vector: square root of X squared plus Y squared.
  • Tangent inverse
    A trigonometric function used to find the angle of a vector from its components.
  • Trigonometric functions
    Functions like cosine and sine used to decompose vectors into X and Y components.
  • Coordinate
    A pair of values (X, Y) representing a point's position in a two-dimensional plane.
  • Origin
    The starting point (0,0) in a coordinate system from which vectors are measured.
  • Triangle
    A geometric shape used to break down vectors into components in two-dimensional motion.
  • Delta
    A symbol representing change, used in vectors to denote displacement.
  • Angle
    The measure of rotation needed to align one vector with another, often found using trigonometry.