SOLUTION: Calvin is swimming in a Lake when he spots two crcodiles. He tells you that his distance to crocodile A is 30 meters, the distance between the two crocodiles is 20 meters, the angl

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Question 724116: Calvin is swimming in a Lake when he spots two crcodiles. He tells you that his distance to crocodile A is 30 meters, the distance between the two crocodiles is 20 meters, the angle at Calvin is 58'?
a.) Show Calvin that he must have a mistake in measurement.
b.) Find the two possible distances between Calvin and Crocodile B using the angle 28'.

Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Law of Sines is a key.

A and B are points of each crocodile. AB is 20, Calvin-to-A is 30. If angle at Calvin is 58 degrees, then sin%28B%29%2F30=sin%2858%29%2F20, which makes sin%28B%29=%283%2F2%29%2A0.848, sin%28B%29=2.968, IMPOSSIBLE. So one of the measurements must be wrong. Sine of an angle must be between -1 and +1.

Either distance to A must be less, or distance AB must be more, or the angle at Calvin must be less. That all was for part (a).