Right Triangle Word Problem. Help Please?

[sweetsyd101]

A ship travels 58 km on a bearing of 20 degrees, and then travels on a bearing of 110 degrees for 133 km. Find the distance from the starting point to the end of the trip, to the nearest kilometer.

I set it up to where the turn from 20 to 110 was a 90 degree angle, and i used sin of 20 equals 133/x to find the distance. i got 399 km, but my teacher told me it was wrong...

can anyone please help me?

thank you!

 

[mmm4444bot]

You are correct that the two given legs of this ship's trip form a right angle. The length of the resulting hypotenuse is what the exercises asks.

The legs are 59 and 133; I would use the Pythagorean Theorem, to find the length of the hypotenuse.

Your mistake was assuming that the angle opposite the 133 km side is 20 degrees. It's not.

(Did you draw a picture?)

Let us know, if you would like more help with this exercise.

Cheers ~ Mark

 

[sweetsyd101]

thank you so much mark!

when i did it originally i was in a hurry and got flustered. i didn't even think to use the pythagorean theorem!