Question

Ship A receives a distress signal from the east, and ship B receives a distress signal from the same vessel from the northwest. At what location is the vessel in distress located? Describe how you arrived at your conclusion using complete sentences. Which theorem or postulate does this demonstrate? You must show all work and steps in order to receive credit.

Answer 1

It is at the intersection of the signal ray ( lines) from both the ship.

For ship 1 the equation of the line (signal ray) is x = 4 ---------------(1)
and for the ship 2 the line equation is
y = -tan45 * x + 6 = -x+6 (slope-intercept form) ------------------------(2)
The intersection is (substitute x = 4 in the second equation giving y = -4 + 6 = 2
Therefore the coordinates of the ship in distress = (4,2)