SOLUTION: Two ships leave the harbor together traveling on courses that have an angle of 127 degrees between them. If they each travel 519 miles, how far apart are they (to the nearest mile)

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Question 1103868: Two ships leave the harbor together traveling on courses that have an angle of 127 degrees between them. If they each travel 519 miles, how far apart are they (to the nearest mile)?
Found 2 solutions by Alan3354, ankor@dixie-net.com:
Answer by Alan3354(69443) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Two ships leave the harbor together traveling on courses that have an angle of 127 degrees between them. If they each travel 519 miles, how far apart are they (to the nearest mile)?
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You can use the Cosine Law.
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Or, draw the altitude from the starting point and make 2 right triangles.
I would use the 2 right triangles.

Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Two ships leave the harbor together traveling on courses that have an angle of 127 degrees between them.
If they each travel 519 miles, how far apart are they (to the nearest mile)?
:
the two sides of 519 mi and the dist between the ships form a scalene triangle
We can treat this as two equal right triangles where the base is 1/2 the dist between the ships
let b = the base of the each triangel
Find the equal angles, 180 - 127 = 53 degrees. Each angle 53/2 = 26.5 degrees
Use the cosine of 26.5 degrees
co(26.5) =
b = cos(26.5) * 519
b = 464.47 mi therefore
2(464.47 = 929 mi between the ships