Thread: Needing help with a vector word problem

I'm taking my word problem final in two days and I really need to understand this ASAP. Here' s the problem:

A place is flying on a bearing of South 10 degrees East at 460 mph. A tail wind is blowing in the direction of South 20 degrees West at 80 mph. Find the resultant velocity of the plane and give a graphic representation of the resultant vector.

I'm just having problems finding angles and understanding so that I can use the Law of Cos.

Thank you.

Originally Posted by Shanizzle

I'm taking my word problem final in two days and I really need to understand this ASAP. Here' s the problem:

A place is flying on a bearing of South 10 degrees East at 460 mph. A tail wind is blowing in the direction of South 20 degrees West at 80 mph. Find the resultant velocity of the plane and give a graphic representation of the resultant vector.

I'm just having problems finding angles and understanding so that I can use the Law of Cos.

Thank you.

Here is a diagram









So the resultant velocity is the magnitute of the sum of the vectors or