/sci/ - Science & Math

>>11056713
Good-day /sqt/. I'm on an engineering mathematics module which so far I've found easy as its essentially a refresher of GCSE/ A level content. This seems to have gotten hard though as I've gotten to vectors. For some reason no matter how hard I study I can never visualize problems at all, its like I have actual brain damage. There was a point where I could imagine some problems by picturing Osaka from Azumanga Daioh being acted upon by whirlwinds, or rowing a boat through a harsh current, or operating a pulley etc. etc. but now I seem unable to get even the basics right.

With that polava out of the way, how do you complete these questions? The worksheet mentions using the triangle rule which I did for the first question, though it only appears to mention the cos rule afterwards for problems that clearly do not use the cos rule. Have I simply imagined the forces acting in the wrong ways? How do you visualize this type of stuff, when something is due in X direction I picture it as an object being acted ON a stationary point rather than said point travelling in a direction WITH the force. Its such a simple thing and yet so complicated.