Question

A snail crawls 83 cm due west and then

78 cm due north.
Work out the bearing of the snail from its
starting point.
Give your answer to the nearest degree.

Answer 1

313°

Explanation:

The reference angle (α) can be found using the tangent relation:

Tan = Opposite/Adjacent

__

In this problem, that means ...

tan(α) = 78/83

α = arctan(78/83) ≈ 43° . . . . . . angle from -x axis

The bearing angle will be this value added to 270°, since bearing angles are measured clockwise from north.

bearing = 270° +43° = 313°