lighthouse b is 9 miles west of lighthouse A. a boat leaves A and sails 5 miles. At this time, it is sighted from B. If the bearing of the boat from B is N64 E, how far from B is the boat?

Answer 1

One way to do this is to set up coordinates.

Let A = (0,0)
B = (-9,0)

When A has sailed 5 miles, it lies on the circle

x^2+y^2 = 25

The line through B with slope 0.4877 is
y = .4877(x+9)

This line intersects the circle at two places: (-4.5,2.2) and (1.0,4.9)

So, you gotta be asking yourself, "Do I feel lucky?"