A large ferry is moving at a speed of 11 miles per hour sout

[anonymouswhos]

Can anyone explain how to solve this?:

A large ferry is moving at a speed of 11 miles per hour south. The current is from the northeast at 3 miles per hour.

1) what is the speed of the ferry relative to the water?

2) what direction is the boat heading?

 

[tkhunny]

Many can provide assistance, but first you must give us a clue.

What have you done? Have you named any variables or written any definitions?

You may need a triangle. In this case, It's a nice isosceles triangle.

 

[anonymouswhos]

Well, I think that it is South South West.

 

[Loren]

What am I missing? I don't see an isosceles triangle. I do see an obtuse triangle and the use of the law of cosines.

 

[tkhunny]

Well, I think that it is South South West.

There's a lovely guess at #2. Have you attempted #1?

Current: 3 mph bearing 135º

Boat: x mph bearing yº Pretty clearly, yº is somewhere to the South West.

Resultant: 11 mph bearing 180º

Now what?

Note: Right, please forget the isosceles triangle thing.