Question 567880
Two ships leave the same port at the same time along paths that make an angle of 115o with each other. If one ship travels at 22 knots (nautical miles per hour) and the other at 18 knots, how many nautical miles apart are the ships after two hours?
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After two hours:
one ship travels 22*2=44 nm
other ship travels 18*2=36 nm
You now have a triangle with two sides, 44 and 36 and an included angle of 115º
let c=third side
Using Law of cosines:c^2= a^2+b^2-2abcos C
c^2= a^2+b^2-2abcos C
c^2= 44^2+36^2-2*44*36*cos 115º
c^2≈4571
c=√(4571)≈68
..
ans:
Nautical miles apart are the ships after two hours=68