Answer:
The ship is approximately 21.6 miles away from its starting point
Explanation:
∵ The North and the East are perpendicular
→ That means the distance between the starting position and
the ending position shows a hypotenuse of a right triangle which
its legs are the distances due to North and East
∵ The ship travels north for 18 miles
∴ leg1 = 18 miles
∵ The ship travels east for 12 miles
∴ leg2 = 12 miles
→ By using Pythagoras Theorem
∵ (hypotenuse)² = (leg1)² + (leg2)²
∴ (hypotenuse)² = (18)² + (12)²
∴ (hypotenuse)² = 324 + 144
∴ (hypotenuse)² = 468
→ Take √ for both sides
∴ hypotenuse = 21.63330765
→ Approximate it to the nearest tenth
∴ hypotenuse = 21.6 miles
∵ The hypotenuse of the right triangle represents the distance from
the starting position to the ending position
∴ The ship is approximately 21.6 miles away from its starting point