Law of Cosine Word Problems Pt. 2

**jordangiscool** · Jul 12th 2009, 06:00 PM

Two ships leave a port at 9 A.M. One travels at a bearing of N 53 degrees W at 12 mph and the other travels at a bearing of S 67 degrees W at 16 mph. Approximate how far apart they are at noon that day.

**Soroban** · Jul 12th 2009, 08:47 PM

Hello, jordangiscool!

Did you make a sketch?

Two ships leave a port at 9 A.M.
One travels at a bearing of N 53° W at 12 mph
and the other travels at a bearing of S 67° W at 16 mph.
Approximate how far apart they are at noon that day.

Code:

              A *       N
               /  *     |
              /  36 *53°|
             /        * |
            /       60° * P
           /         *  |
          /   48  * 67° |
         /     *        |
        /   *           S
       / *
    B *

The first ship leaves the port $P$ , where $\angle NPA = 63^o$
. . and sails 36 miles to point $A.$

The second ship leaves the port $P$ , where $\angle SPB = 67^o$
. . and sails 48 miles to point $B.$

We see that $\angle APB = 60^o.$

Law of Cosines: . $AB^2 \:=\:36^2 + 48^2 - 2(36)(48)\cos60^o$

Got it?

Thread: Law of Cosine Word Problems Pt. 2

LinkBack

Thread Tools

Display

Law of Cosine Word Problems Pt. 2

Similar Math Help Forum Discussions

problems with cosine equation

Law of Cosine Word Problems

Sine/ Cosine Rule Problems

cosine law - word problem

[SOLVED] [SOLVED] Law of Sines/Cosine Word Problems

Search Tags