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28 votes
A man walks 8km north and then 5km in a direction 60 degrees east of north. find the distance from the starting point

User Drquicksilver
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1 Answer

24 votes
24 votes

Answer:

about 11.4 km

Explanation:

The law of cosines can be used to find the third side of a triangle when two sides and the angle between them are known.

Law of Cosines

The law of cosines tells us ...

c² = a² +b² -2ab·cos(C)

In the triangle modelling the problem geometry, the angle between the walking directions is 120°, so the distance from start can be found from ...

c² = 8² +5² -2·8·5·cos(120°) = 129

c = √129 ≈ 11.358

The distance is about 11.4 km from the starting point.

A man walks 8km north and then 5km in a direction 60 degrees east of north. find the-example-1
User Hidden Hobbes
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2.9k points