A ship leaves port at noon and has a bearing of S 35° W. The ship sails at 20 knots. How many nautical miles south will the ship have traveled by 8:00 P.M.? Round your
Answer to two decimals.
A) 91.77 nautical miles
B) 22.94 nautical miles
C) 131.06 nautical miles
D) 16.06 nautical miles
E) 112.03 nautical miles

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The time elapsed is 8 hours. At 20 knots, the ship would have traveled 160 nautical miles (20 knots x 8 hours). 
To find the southward distance, we need to use the trigonometric ratio for the bearing: 
tan(35°) = southward distance / distance traveled 
tan(35°) = southward distance / 160 
southward distance = 160 x tan(35°) 
southward distance ≈ 131.06 nautical miles.

A Ship Leaves Port at Noon and Has a Bearing