SOLUTION: . Avoiding a collision. A car is traveling on a road that is perpendicular to a railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car’s new collision detector war
Question 167952: . Avoiding a collision. A car is traveling on a road that is perpendicular to a railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car’s new collision detector warns the driver that there is a train 50 meters from the car and heading toward the same crossing. How far is the train from the crossing?
You can put this solution on YOUR website! Avoiding a collision. A car is traveling on a road that is perpendicular to a
railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car’s new
collision detector warns the driver that there is a train 50 meters from the
car and heading toward the same crossing. How far is the train from the crossing?
:
This is a right triangle problem: a^2 + b^2 = c^2
:
Let a = 30 (car dist from the crossing)
Let c = 50 (diagonal or hypotenuse) detector reading
Let b = dist train is from the crossing
:
30^2 + b^2 = 50^2
:
900 + b^2 = 2500
:
b^2 = 2500 - 900
:
b^2 = 1600
b =
b = 40 meters, train is from the crossing
;
:
Check solution on a calc; enter = 50
