Precalculus: Mathematics for Calculus, 7th Edition

Published by Brooks Cole
ISBN 10: 1305071751
ISBN 13: 978-1-30507-175-9

Chapter 6 - Section 6.6 - The Law of Cosines - 6.6 Exercises - Page 523: 52

Answer

The distance between the two landmarks is approximately 1679 ft.

Work Step by Step

To find the distance between the two landmarks, one must first find the distances from the woman to each of the landmarks. To do so, in both cases, one should use the cosine function. $d_{1}$ and $d_{2}$ will be used for these distances. cos$(54º)=\frac{1150}{d_{1}}$ $d_{1}=\frac{1150}{cos(54º)}\approx1956$ft cos$(62º)=\frac{1150}{d_{2}}$ $d_{2}=\frac{1150}{cos(62º)}\approx2450$ft Now, using the law of cosines, one can find the distance between the two landmarks, which will be assigned the variable $x$: $x^2=1956^2+2450^2-2(1956)(2450)\cdot $cos$(43º)$ $x^2=3,825,936+6,002,500-9,584,400\cdot 0.73$ $x^2=9,828,436-7,009,586$ $x=\sqrt{2,818,850}\approx1679$ft
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