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FriskeCrisp
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Homework Statement
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 4.4 km, but when the snow clears, he discovers that he actually traveled 7.8 km at 54° north of due east.
(a) How far must he now travel to reach base camp?
km
(b) In what direction must he travel?
° (counterclockwise from due east)
The Attempt at a Solution
First thing I did was draw a map of the problem using a coordinate plane. I have north be my y-axis and the x-axis as my due east. So I started at the x-axis and went 54 degrees up and then drew a line going out and labeled it as 7.8 km. Then I connected it to the point that was 4.4 km from the origin. When I did that, the lines formed a triangle. I then took the sin(36) = x/7.8 to get my x value. It came out to 4.584724968 km. Here is where I get lost. Is that now how far he has to travel to get to camp or is there something more that I am not getting?