ABSTRACT
This chapter describes the methods of solution of problems where particles and bodies are in static equilibrium under the action of any system of coplanar forces. A force of magnitude 80 N applied at a point O in the direction o → a can be represented by the vector oa. The replacement of two or more forces by a single force having the same effect (resultant) is called the composition of forces. An inverse procedure is where a single force is replaced by two or more forces having the same effect. This is called the resolution of forces, and the latter forces are known as components. A particle is a body of infinitesimally small size, and the forces acting on a particle are necessarily concurrent. A couple is a pair of parallel forces which are equal in magnitude, opposite in sense, but noncollinear.
