Any force acting at an angle can be split into two mutually perpendicular parts — a horizontal component and a vertical component — using trigonometry. For a force F inclined at angle θ to the horizontal, the horizontal component is F·cos θ and the vertical component is F·sin θ. These two components, acting together, are exactly equivalent to the original force.

Given: F = 100 N, θ = 37°, with the standard approximations sin37° = 0.6, cos37° = 0.8, tan37° = 0.75.

Horizontal component:

• F_x = F·cos37° = 100 × 0.8 = 80 N

Vertical component:

• F_y = F·sin37° = 100 × 0.6 = 60 N

As a check, the components should recombine to the original magnitude: √(80² + 60²) = √(6400 + 3600) = √10000 = 100 N, confirming the result. Hence the components are 80 N (horizontal) and 60 N (vertical).

Why the other choices are wrong: 60 N and 80 N simply swaps the two values — it wrongly assigns F·sin θ to the horizontal direction and F·cos θ to the vertical, which would only be correct if the angle were measured from the vertical instead of the horizontal. 100 N and 0 N would apply only if the force were perfectly horizontal (θ = 0°), which contradicts the 37° inclination. 70 N and 70 N corresponds to a 45° force (equal components), not a 37° force.