Why Do My Calculations for Ship Positions Differ from the Textbook Answers?

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves two ships departing from the same port, with one traveling north and the other at an angle. The original poster seeks to determine the distance and direction between the ships after one hour, as well as the relative velocity of one ship to the other. The subject area pertains to vector analysis and trigonometry in a physics context.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • The original poster presents their calculations and expresses uncertainty regarding discrepancies with textbook answers. Some participants question the accuracy of the textbook's answers and suggest that different methods or rounding might explain the differences.

Discussion Status

The discussion includes attempts to validate the original poster's calculations, with some participants agreeing with their results. There is an exploration of potential reasons for the discrepancies, but no consensus has been reached regarding the correctness of the textbook answers.

Contextual Notes

The original poster references specific calculations and angles, indicating a reliance on trigonometric values and potential rounding differences. There is an implication that the textbook may have used alternative methods or approximations.

delcypher
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Hi this seems like a simple question (and probably is) but I keep getting the answers wrong.

Homework Statement



Two ships, A and B, leave port P at the same time. Ship A travels due north at a steady speed of 15kmh[tex]^{-1}[/tex] and ship B travels N 60[tex]^{o}[/tex] E at a speed of 10kmh[tex]^{-1}[/tex].

i) What is the distance and direction from A to B after 1 hour?
ii) What is the velocity of B relative to A?


Homework Equations



c[tex]^{2}[/tex] = a[tex]^{2}[/tex] + [tex]^{2}[/tex] - 2.a.b.COSC

COS 60[tex]^{o}[/tex] = 0.5; SIN 30[tex]^{o}[/tex] = 0.5; cos 30[tex]^{o}[/tex] = ([tex]\sqrt{3}[/tex])/2


The Attempt at a Solution



The workings can be seen here (sorry I prefer to write):
http://www.unicyclist.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_view=core.DownloadItem&g2_itemId=551574&g2_serialNumber=1"

The answer given in the book for the distance between A and B in i) should be 13.33Km, my calculations make it 13.23Km, it's close but not enough for me to be certain I've done it correctly.

The direction for i) is correct they've (in my opinion) written it a strange way.

I wrote 139.11[tex]^{o}[/tex] (from North clockwise) or E 49.11[tex]^{o}[/tex] S. They wrote S 40[tex]^{o}[/tex] 54' E - this means S 40.9[tex]^{o}[/tex] E

My answer for ii) is very close 13.23kmh[tex]^{-1}[/tex], but they give 13.22kmh[tex]^{-1}[/tex].

Can anyone shed any light on what I'm doing wrong?
 
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Looks good to me. Your answers are correct.
 
Would you say then that the book's answers are incorrect?

Maybe they've used a different method and rounded with the cos30 rather than using it's surd value?
 
I agree with your answers; where the book disagrees, the book is incorrect. Beats me why--but it does happen.
 
okay, thank-you for taking the time to look at my messy workings.
 

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