Get more lessons like this at http://www.MathTutorDVD.com Learn how to find the magnitude of a vector given its x and y components. This is done by using the pythagorean theorem to find the length of the vector by squaring the sides of the vector components and taking the square root of the result. The angle that the vector makes with the x-axis (the direction of the vector) is found by taking the inverse tangent of the y component divided by its x-component.