Question 12 Marks
A person standing at $0\ (0,0,0)$ is watching an aeroplane which is at the coordinate point $4\ (4,0,3)$. At the same time he saw a bird at the coordinate point $B\ (0,0,1)$. Find the angles which $\overrightarrow{B A}$ makes with the $x,y$ and $z$ axes.
Answer
View full question & answer→$ \overrightarrow{B A}=\overrightarrow{O A}-\overrightarrow{O B}=(4 \hat{\imath}+3 \hat{k})-\hat{k}=4 \hat{\imath}+2 \hat{k}$
$\widehat{B A}=\frac{4}{2 \sqrt{5}} \hat{\imath}+\frac{2}{2 \sqrt{5}} \hat{k}=\frac{2}{\sqrt{5}} \hat{\imath}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} \hat{k} $
So, the angles made by the vector $\overrightarrow{B A}$ with the $x , y$ and the $z$ axes are respectively $\cos ^{-1}\left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{5}}\right), \frac{\pi}{2}, \cos ^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\right)$.
$\widehat{B A}=\frac{4}{2 \sqrt{5}} \hat{\imath}+\frac{2}{2 \sqrt{5}} \hat{k}=\frac{2}{\sqrt{5}} \hat{\imath}+\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}} \hat{k} $
So, the angles made by the vector $\overrightarrow{B A}$ with the $x , y$ and the $z$ axes are respectively $\cos ^{-1}\left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{5}}\right), \frac{\pi}{2}, \cos ^{-1}\left(\frac{1}{\sqrt{5}}\right)$.