Question

Help with this problem please. I don't get it at all.
A ship is heading due north at 12 mph. The current is flowing southwest at 4mph. Find the actual bearing and speed of the ship.

Answer 1

Are you studying vectors?

I see a triangle with triangle ABC with AB vertical with length 12, angle B = 45 degrees, and BC = 4

by cosine law:
b^2 = 4^2 + 12^2 - 2(4)(12)cos45
= 92.1177
b = 9.598

Sos the actual speed of the ship is 9.6 mph

Use the Sine Law to find angle A for the bearing

(I had 17.14 degrees)

Answer 2

The bearing would be 360-17.14= 342.86 due to the fact that the bearing scale is different than the unit circle.