forces ???

Question

A 500 kg piano is being lowered into position by a crane while two people steady it with ropes pulling to the sides. Bob's rope pulls to the left, 15 degrees below horizontal, with 500 N of tension. Ellen's rope pulls toward the right, 25 degrees below horizontal.a)What tension must Ellen maintain in her rope to keep the piano descending at a steady speed?b)What is the tension in the main cable supporting the piano?

Answer 1

Draw out the force diagram and divide everything into component force vectors.
Pick out the key information in the problem, namely you are looking for a situation which will cause the object to descend at a steady speed (i.e. no acceleration, no net force).
Remember, perpendicular vectors are independent.

I would say a picture would help a lot to solve this problem.