Question

a plane has an airspeed of 200 mph. the pilot wants to reach a destination 600 miles east but a wind is blowing 50 mph 30 degrees North of East. What direction must the pilot head the plane in order to reach the destination?
I asked my Lab T.A. and she helped me understand that I basically need to draw two vectors and get the average of the two but all of my answers are wrong so far...

Answer 1

Not the average of the two - you need to find the vector which, when added to the windspeed vector, will give the vector to the desired destination. So you are really subtracting vectors. Try that....

Answer 2

It's still confusing me...200mph-50 gives us 150mph but how do i know the angle of that vector? I know it's South of East...

Answer 3

nevermind! got it! thanks!

Answer 4

way to be persistent! now you probably won't forget how it's done, since you worked so hard.