High School Level Physics Homework

[Itsreason]

Homework Statement

A highway is to be built between two towns, one of which lies 35.0km south and 72.0km west of the other. What is the shortest length of highway that can be built between the two towns, and at what angle would this highway be directed with respect to due west.

Homework Equations

A^2 + B^2 = C^2 ... this might be used, I am unsure.

The Attempt at a Solution

I know that this involves the trig functions sin, cosine, and tangent. This is the first homework problem of the section and I am having trouble visualizing it. Please help. Thanks!

 

[PhanthomJay]

Try drawing a quick sketch on graph paper roughly to scale showing a point for town A at the origin and another point for town B located as given at x ='-72 and y = -35. A line drawn from A to B is the shortest distance between the 2 and will be the hypotenuse of the right triangle with the leg dimensions as given. Looks like Pythagoras will give you the distance and a little trig (you know SOH-CAH-TOA?) will give the angle.