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2 votes
A boat travels 21 miles east from a

lighthouse then changes direction
traveling 22° south of west for
9 miles.
How far is the ship from the
lighthouse?

2 Answers

5 votes

Answer:
All credit goes to the guy above me

13.10

Explanation:

All credit goes to the guy above me

User Mhavel
by
3.1k points
1 vote

Explanation:

the law of cosine in a triangle :

c² = a² + b² - 2ab×cos(C)

c is the side opposite of the angle C.

a and b are the other 2 sides.

our triangle here is the 21 miles east, then (after turning back west and 22° to the south) 9 miles mostly west-south-west, abd then the actual distance to the lighthouse.

an angle south of west means pointing west and then turning the many degrees to the south.

in other words, this is the internal angle of the triangle at the turning point at the end of the initial 21 miles trip to the east.

so, we have

distance² = 21² + 9² - 2×21×9×cos(22) =

= 441 + 81 - 378×cos(22) =

= 522 - 378×cos(22) =

= 171.524503...

distance = 13.09673635... miles

User Rasmi Ranjan Nayak
by
3.7k points