Question

Eduardo and Paul are leaving the same airport in Florida. Eduardo’s flight to Jamaica is 273 miles long. Paul's flight to Honduras is 357 miles long. If their destinations are 238 miles apart, what is the angle formed by their flight paths? Round the answer to the nearest tenth. A. 40.9° B. 41.8° C. 43.8° D. 52.6°

Answer 1

B. 41.8° is the correct answer

Explanation:

We are given that,

Length of Eduardo's flight path = 273 miles

Length of Paul's flight path = 357 miles

Distance between their destinations = 238 miles.

Now, using the law of cosines, we get,

`238^2=273^2+357^2-2* 273* 357* \cos \theta`

i.e.
`56644=74529+127449-194922* \cos \theta`

i.e.
`56644=201978-194922* \cos \theta`

i.e.
`194922* \cos \theta=145334`

i.e.
`\cos \theta=0.7456`

i.e.
`\theta=\arccos 0.7456`

i.e. θ = 41.8°

Hence, the angle between their flight paths is 41.8°.