23.4k views
2 votes
A Siamese cat named Sam is 6 m from a catnip plant. The Siamese cat is 5 m from a Himalayan cat named Han. The sightlines from Sam to Han and from Sam to the plant form an angle of 108. How far is Han from the catnip plant?

User YellowBlue
by
3.6k points

1 Answer

7 votes

The given information can be represented by the diagram below

From the given, and the nature of triangle given, we will use cosine formula

This is


\begin{gathered} h^2=6^2+5^2-2*6*5cos108^0 \\ h^2=36+25-60(-cos(180-108)^0) \\ h^2=61-60(-cos72^0) \end{gathered}
\begin{gathered} h^2=61+60*0.3090 \\ h^2=61+18.541 \\ h^2=79.541 \\ h=√(79.541) \\ h=8.919m \\ h\approx8.9m \end{gathered}

A Siamese cat named Sam is 6 m from a catnip plant. The Siamese cat is 5 m from a-example-1
User Hamster On Wheels
by
3.4k points