SOLUTION: Dear Sir/Madam: A good day to you! Please help me in finding a solution to this word problem involving oblique triangles, here it goes: Two trains start at the same time fr

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Misc -> SOLUTION: Dear Sir/Madam: A good day to you! Please help me in finding a solution to this word problem involving oblique triangles, here it goes: Two trains start at the same time fr      Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


    

Question 826065: Dear Sir/Madam:
A good day to you! Please help me in finding a solution to this word problem involving oblique triangles, here it goes:
Two trains start at the same time from the same station moving along straight tracks with an angle of 42.7°. One train runs at a rate of 40 mph and the second train at 55 mph. What is their distance after 25 minutes, if the second train makes an angle of 50.3° with the first train?
Thank you very much for your help!
Answer by josgarithmetic(39617) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Here is help to start:

Change 25 minutes into hours, 25%2F60=highlight_green%285%2F12%29 hours.

The situation can be described using Law Of Cosines,
highlight_green%28a%5E2%2Bb%5E2-2ab%2Acos%28gamma%29=c%5E2%29;

If one train follows a, then a=%2840%2Amiles%2Fhour%29%2A%285%2F12%29%2Ahour;
and the other train follows b, b=%2855%2Amiles%2Fhour%29%285%2F12%29%2Ahour.
You would be calculating, then computing c.