SOLUTION: Avoiding a Collison: A car is traveling on a road tht is perpendicular to a railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car's new collision detector warns the

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Question 154078: Avoiding a Collison: A car is traveling on a road tht 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.
Thank you
Answer by jojo14344(1513) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Project the situation as a triangle:
The distance of the car to the crossing as an opposite side = o=30+m.
The distance of the train to the car at a certain angle is the hypotrenuse = h=50m.
So the unknown is the distance of the train to the crossing which is the adjacent side= a=?
by Pyth.Theorem:
h%5E2=a%5E2%2Bo%5E2
a%5E2=h%5E2-o%5E2
a=sqrt%28h%5E2-o%5E2%29
a=sqrt%2850%5E2-30%5E2%29=sqrt%282500-900%29=sqrt%281600%29
a=40m ----------------------------> distance of the train to the crossing
Thank you,
Jojo