SOLUTION: 1. A ship leaves a port and sails for 4 hours on a course of 78° at 18 knots. Then the ship changes it's course to 128° and sails for 6 hours at 16 knots. Find 10 hours after leavi

Algebra ->  Trigonometry-basics -> SOLUTION: 1. A ship leaves a port and sails for 4 hours on a course of 78° at 18 knots. Then the ship changes it's course to 128° and sails for 6 hours at 16 knots. Find 10 hours after leavi      Log On


   



Question 1043572: 1. A ship leaves a port and sails for 4 hours on a course of 78° at 18 knots. Then the ship changes it's course to 128° and sails for 6 hours at 16 knots. Find 10 hours after leaving the port:
*the distance of ship from the part
*the bearing of the ship from the port
*the bearing from the ship to the port.
2. A ship is sailing due west when a light is observed with heading 297°50' from the ship. After the ship has travelled 2250 feet, the light heads 311°55' from the ship. If the course is continued, how close will the ship approach the light?
Please provide illustrations so I could study it. Thank you.

Answer by KMST(5328) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
1. I had to look up the definition of course, heading, and bearing,
and what I found is some confusion.
In most sources They were defined as the angle from North to the direction the ship is aiming for, or pointing to,
measured clockwise from North.
I am sticking to that, but I believe that for the first problem, it does not matter how you measure the angle, as long as it is done consistently.

%284hours%29%2A%2818knots%29=72nauticalmiles
%286hours%29%2A%2816knots%29=96nauticalmiles .
The situation can be sketched like this:

The right triangles with a red hypotenuse of length red%2872%29 have legs measuring
x%5B1%5D=72%2Asin%2878%5Eo%29=70.42663 (rounded to 5 decimal places) and
y%5B1%5D=72%2Acos%2878%5Eo%29=14.96964 (rounded to 5 decimal places) .
At 4 hours the ship was about 70 nautical miles East, and 15 miles North of the port.
The legs of the right triangles with a green hypotenuse of length green%2896%29 are such that
x%5B2%5D=96%2Asin%28128%5Eo%29=75.64903 (rounded to 5 decimal places) and
-y%5B2%5D=96%2Acos%28128%5Eo%29=-59.1035 (rounded to 5 decimal places) .
After 4%2B6=10 hours the ship was about 76 nautical miles further East, and 59 miles South from its position at 4 hours.

Considering only the start and end positions, we have

We have one right triangle, and we know the legs, so we can find
the hypotenuse, and
angle theta .
The lengths of the legs are approximately
x%5B1%5D%2Bx%5B2%5D=70.42663%2B75.64903=146.07566 and ;
tan%28theta%29=44.13386%2F144.07566=0.30201--->theta=163.8%5Eo .
So,
the distance to the ship from the port is highlight%28152.6%29 nautical miles,
the bearing of the ship from the port is 90%5Eo%2B16.8%5Eo=highlight%28106.8%5Eo%29 , and
the bearing from the ship to the port is
270%5Eo%2B16.8%5Eo=highlight%28286.8%5Eo%29 .

2. The ship is going West.
When the ship reaches point A it records the bearing/heading of the light,
and it does it again, 2250 feet further, at point B .
If the course is continued, x feet further, the ship will reach point C ,
where it is at a distance of d feet from the light,
as close to the light as its westward trajectory would take it.

We have two right triangles: ALC and BLC .
For triangle ALC , a leg measuring d feet is opposed to an angle measuring 297%5Eo%2250+%27%22-270%5Eo=27%5Eo%2250+%27%22=approximately27.83333%5Eo ,
while leg measuring x%2B2250 feet is adjacent to the same angle.
So, tan%2827.83333%5Eo%29=d%2F%28x%2B2250%29 .
For triangle BLC , a leg measuring d feet is opposed to an angle measuring 311%5Eo%2255+%27%22-270%5Eo=41%5Eo%2255+%27%22=approximately41.91667%5Eo ,
while leg measuring x feet is adjacent to the same angle.
So, tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29=d%2Fx .
Dividing one equation vby the other, we get
tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29=%28x%2B2250%29%2Fx ,which can be solved for x .
Then, we can use tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29=d%2Fx<--->d=x%2Atan%2841.91667%5Eo%29 to find d .
Solving:
tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29=%28x%2B2250%29%2Fx
x%2Atan%2841.91667%5Eo%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29=x%2B2250
x%2Atan%2841.91667%5Eo%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29-x=2250
x%28tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29-1%29=2250
x%28tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29-tan%2827.83333%5Eo%29%29%2Ftan%2827.83333%5Eo%29=2250
x%28tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29-tan%2827.83333%5Eo%29%29=2250%2Atan%2827.83333%5Eo%29
x=2250%2Atan%2827.83333%5Eo%29%2F%28tan%2841.91667%5Eo%29-tan%2827.83333%5Eo%29%29 ,
and finally

That calculates as approximately
d=highlight%282884%29 feet.