Question

Use the law of cosines to solve the problem. You must solve for BC first. Solve this problem in order.
A ship travels due west for 94 miles. It then travels in a northwest direction for 119 miles and ends up 173 miles from its original position. To the nearest tenth of a degree, how many degrees north of west (x) did it turn when it changed direction? Show your work.

Answer 1

If the ship started at A, turned at B, and ended up at C, then we want to find angle B.
173^2 = 94^2 + 119^2 - 2*94*119 cosB
cosB = -1733/5593
B = 108°
so the ship turned x=72° north at B

Answer 2

is oobleck correct?