First you know he started from a point (0,0) and wanted to end up 4.5km north of that point. So essentially he needed to be at (0,4.5). Now he traveled NE at 45° from (0,0) with a magnitude of 7.8km. Draw a triangle to help illustrate this now... find his total x displacement and his total y displacement. Use your Cos and Sin laws to solve this.
After that, you can compare that with where his base camp should be, which has a displacement of x=0 and y=4.5. After that all you do is use a tan law to find what degree he needs to travel to get back to camp.
An explorer is caught in a whiteout (in which the snowfall is so thick that the ground cannot be distinguished from the sky) while returning to base camp. He was supposed to travel due north for 4.5 km, but when the snow clears, he discovers that he actually traveled 7.8 km at 45° north of due east. In what direction must he travel (counterclockwise from due east)?
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1 answer