Taking a look at the image in the attachment, we discover that we can calculate the magnitude of the horizontal components using our knowledge of trigonometry. Since we are comparing the resultant and the horizontal component, the equation connecting them is
[tex]cos \theta = \frac{V_{x}}{V}[/tex], where [tex]V_{x}[/tex] is the horizontal component, and [tex]V[/tex] is the resultant vector. Now we have to make
[tex]V_{x} = Vcos \theta[/tex], and this is how we calculate the magnitude of the horizontal component.
[tex]V_{x} = Vcos \theta[/tex]
