Summary of Post ·  Breaking vectors into components is tricky at first, but essential for solving physics and engineering problems. ·  Common challenges include visualizing axes, switching to 3D, and relating vectors to axis. ·  Use right triangles and trigonometry (“soh cah toa”) to find x, y, and z components. ·  For 2D vectors, multiply the magnitude by the cosine or sine of the angle to get components.   ·  For 3D vectors, solve for the z component first, then use triangl