SOLUTION: An airplane is at a location 800 miles west of city X. Another airplane is at a distance of 1,200 miles in a direction S 30° W from city X. What is the distance between the two air
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Question 1062277: An airplane is at a location 800 miles west of city X. Another airplane is at a distance of 1,200 miles in a direction S 30° W from city X. What is the distance between the two airplanes to the nearest mile? Assume that the planes are flying at the same altitude. Answer by Boreal(15235) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! It helps to draw this. From the drawing, the estimate is between 400 (they are the same direction) to 800, less than the distance either is from the city.
Law of cosines.
c^2=a^2+b^2-2abcos C
c^2=800^+1200^2-2(800)(1200)cos 30
=417231.22
c=sqrt (417231.22)=645.93 rounded to 646 miles.
