Sailing to Miami & Emerging Markets Quadratic Equations

Hi Everyone. I am having trouble with these two word problems. This section is solving quadratic equations by factoring.

At point A the captain of a ship determined that the distance to Miami was 13 miles. If she sailed north to point B and the west to Miami the distance would be 17 miles. If the distance from point A to point B is greater than the distance from point B to Miami then how far is it from point A to point B. (The map shows a route in the shape of a triangle.) I'm not sure how to set this up. I thought because it was a triangle it might be the pythagorean theory?


The other problem is:

Catarina's investment of $16,000 in an emerging market fund grew to $25,000 in two years. Find the average annual rate of return by solving the equation 16,000(1+r) 2nd power = 25,000.


Any help would be so greatly appreciated.

Re: Sailing to Miami & Emerging Markets Quadratic Equati

stephanie953 said:

Hi Everyone. I am having trouble with these two word problems. This section is solving quadratic equations by factoring.

At point A the captain of a ship determined that the distance to Miami was 13 miles. If she sailed north to point B and the west to Miami the distance would be 17 miles. If the distance from point A to point B is greater than the distance from point B to Miami then how far is it from point A to point B. (The map shows a route in the shape of a triangle.) I'm not sure how to set this up. I thought because it was a triangle it might be the pythagorean theory?

Click to expand...

That is right. You need the pythagorean theorem. You just don't quite have the usual information. You have the hypotenuse, 13 miles. You don't hvae the length of either leg. The total length of both legs is 17 miles. You must use the "greater than" clue to solve that little deficiency.

Catarina's investment of $16,000 in an emerging market fund grew to $25,000 in two years. Find the average annual rate of return by solving the equation 16,000(1+r) 2nd power = 25,000.

Click to expand...

Okay, then do it. Let's see what you get.

In general:

a(1 + r)^n = b

(1 + r)^n = b/a

1 + r = (b/a)^(1/n)

r = (b/a)^(1/n) - 1