Friday, July 31, 2009

Anybody good at physics?

Here's the problem:


The route followed by a hiker consists of three displacement vectors, A, B, and C. Vector A is along a measured trail and is 1550 m in a direction of 25 degrees north of east. Vector B is not along a measured trail but the hiker uses a compass and knows that the direction is 41 degrees east of south. Similarly, the direction of Vector C is 35 degrees north of west. The hiker ends up where she started so the displacement is 0 or A+B+C=0. Find the magnitudes of Vector B and C.

Anybody good at physics?
B = 5548.65 m, C = 6158.83m


first, determine how far north, and how far east hiker travels in first 1550m. ie:1550*sin(25)=y1; 1550*cos(25)=x1


now you know that sin(41)=x2/B; cos(41)=y2/B


similarly, sin(35)=y3/C; cos(35)=x3/C


then use the fact that y1+y3=y2, and x1+x2=x3


this is all that is needed for this problem


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