If a soccor ball with a mass of 0.43 kg is kicked while it is in the air, with a force of 15 N oriented 32 degrees above the horizontal, what is the resultant acceleration?
F = m a
The acceleration component due to the kick, a, will be in the direction of the force, F.
Strictly speaking, you must add the acceleration of gravity, g (directed downwards) to that.
The correct answer is the vector sum of F/m = (34.9 m/s^2 @32 degrees up) and g (9.8 m/s^2, down).
Since this is not a physics class, the instructor might not realize that.