- #1
danago
Gold Member
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- 4
Homework Statement
A Family has a boat which can travel at 12 m/s in still water. They are using it to reach a point 500m downstream on the other side of a river 300m wide, and flowing at 4 m/s. What heading must they take, relative to their starting point, in order to reach their destination?
The Attempt at a Solution
I first drew a triangle, with the side parallel to the river banks 500m, and the side perperndicular 300m. From there, i found that to end up 500m downstream, the resultant direction of travel should be ~59 degrees from the perpendicular (or 31 degrees from the bank).
The rivers current plus the boats motion should result in a velocity in the direction of 59 degrees. So:
[tex]
\left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c}
4 \\
0 \\
\end{array}} \right) + \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c}
{12\sin \theta } \\
{12\cos \theta } \\
\end{array}} \right) = \lambda \left( {\begin{array}{*{20}c}
{100\sqrt {34} \sin 59} \\
{100\sqrt {34} \cos 59} \\
\end{array}} \right)
[/tex]
I solved for theta, and found that it equals 49 degrees. So i concluded that to end up 500m downstream, the boat should set off at 49 degrees to the perpendicular of the banks.
Im unsure if that is correct. Also, is there a better way i should have gone about it?
Thanks,
Dan.