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4 votes
A ship leaves port on a bearing of 34.0 degrees and travels 10.4 mi. The ship then turns due east and travels 3.9 mi. How far is the ship from​ port, and what is its bearing from​ port?

User Gico
by
6.3k points

1 Answer

4 votes

r

=

13.5

mi

, at a bearing angle of

50.4

o

Step-by-step explanation:

We're asked to find the total displacement, both the magnitude and direction, of the ship after it leaves the port with the given conditions.

First, I'll explain what a bearing is.

A bearing is NOT a regular angle measure; normally, angles are measured anticlockwise from the positive

x

-axis, but bearing angles are measured clockwise from the positive

y

-axis.

Therefore, a bearing of

34.0

o

indicates that this is an angle

90.0

o

34.0

o

=

56.0

o

measured normally. We'll use this angle in our calculations.

We're given that the first displacement is

10.4

mi

at an angle of

56.0

o

(as calculated earlier). Let's split this up into its components:

x

1

=

10.4

cos

56.0

o

=

5.82

m

y

1

=

10.4

sin

56.0

o

=

8.62

m

Our second displacement is a simple

4.6

mi

due east, that is, the positive

x

-direction. The components are thus

x

2

=

4.6

mi

y

2

=

0

mi

To find the total displacement from the port, we'll add these two vectors' components and use the distance formula:

Δ

x

=

x

1

+

x

2

=

5.82

mi

+

4.6

mi

=

10.42

mi

Δ

y

=

y

1

+

y

2

=

8.62

mi

+

0

mi

=

8.62

mi

r

=

(

x

total

)

2

+

(

y

total

)

2

=

(

10.42

mi

)

2

+

(

8.62

mi

)

2

=

13.5

mi

The direction of the displacement vector is given by

tan

θ

=

Δ

y

Δ

x

so the angle is then

θ

=

arctan

(

Δ

y

Δ

x

)

=

arctan

(

8.62

mi

10.42

mi

)

=

39.6

o

The question asked for the bearing angle, which is just this angle subtracted from

90

o

:

Bearing angle

=

90

o

39.6

o

=

50.4

o

User Phoenixwizard
by
7.5k points