Boating Your friend invites you to go boating on the river in a powerboat. The speed of the powerboat in still water is 35 mi/h. The river flows directly south at 8 mi/h. If the powerboat heads directly west, what are the boat's approximate resultant speed and direction?
Step 1 The diagram shows the sum of the two vectors. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the powerboat's resultant speed.
Step 2 Use trigonometry to find the powerboat's resultant direction.
What is the general direction of the boat?
The boat goes west, but the current pushes it south. So the boat will travel below horizontal, or south of west.
The powerboat's speed is about 36 mi/h. Its direction is about
Sketch a vector with the given direction.
Use