Question

Vector a has magnitude of 16.3 and is 275° counter-clockwise up from the x-axis. what are the x- and y-components of the vector?

Answer 1

Refer to the figure below.

The reference angle is 360 - 275 = 85°.
Note that cosine is positive but sine is negative in the 4th quadrant.

Therefore,
the x-component of the vector is
16.3 cos(85°) = 1.4206
the y-component of the vector is
-16.3 sin(85°) = -16.238

Answer: (1.42, -16.24)