Question

a ship sails 200km due west and then 375km due south .at the end of this journey how far is the ship from its starting position​

Answer 1

Given,

A ship sails 200 kilometres in the west direction.

And then sails 375 kilometres in the south direction.

To find,

The distance between the starting position and ending position.

Solution,

Let the starting point = A

The ship started it's journey from point A and sailed in west direction for 200 kilometres to reach the point B. Then from point B the ship travelled 375 kilometres into south direction to reach the point C.

Now, if we visualise the whole situation, then we will get that ∆ABC is a right angle triangle.

AB,BC are two sides of this right angle triangle and AC is the hypotenuse of this right angle triangle.

Now, the length of AC will be distance between starting and ending points.

According to the Pythagoras theorem,

(AB)² + (BC)² = (AC)²

(AC)² = (200)²+(375)²

(AC)² = 40000 + 140625

(AC)² = 180625

AC = 425

Hence, the ship is 425 kilometres away from the starting point.