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(Use the Pythagorean theorem to answer the question.) An airplane takes off going straight west at 340 km/h for 1 hour, then turns and heads south for another hour at 360 km/h before reaching its final destination. What is the airplane's displacement?

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6 votes

Answer:

495km to the southeast is the correct answer.

Step-by-step explanation:

User Optimisticupdate
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South is perpendicular to West, so the plane's route forms a right triangle, and you can use Good Old Pythagoras to calculate the length of the hypotenuse.

The length of the displacement is √(the west piece² + the south piece²) .

That's √ [ (340km)² + (360km)² ]

= √ [ (115,600) km² + (129,600) km² ]

= √ 245,200 km²

= 495 km

To be technical, Displacement is a vector, so we would need to
calculate its direction too.

Naturally, the plane winds up roughly southwest of where it took off.

You'd want to find the angle whose tangent is (360/340) = about 1.059 .
The direction of the Displacement is that angle south of west. (about 46.6 degrees)
User Ngo Van
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