I don't understand how to do this!

Question

The London Eye observation whell has  radius of 67.5m and takes 30 minutes to make a complete rotation. A car starts at position (67.5,0). What are the coordinates of the cars location after 5 minutes?

 

(Trig must be used)

Answer 1

 

The starting position corresponds to the standard 0 degrees, in trigonometry. After 5 minutes of counterclockwise motion, the car will have gone 5/30 of a full rotation, or 1/6 rotation, i.e. 60^o and so the car will be in the position x = ½r, y = r√(3)/2 where r = 67.5 wheel radius.  I'll let you do the decimal calculations.

Answer 2

To me, this is a geometry problem, and you are being asked to determine the position of the car as if it is located on the rim of a clock (at a "time"). In other words, you are looking for an answer in the form of (x, 5). 5 minutes is 1/6 of 30 mins, so the car will have moved 1/6 of the distance around the wheel. The circumference of the Eye is 2(pi)(67.5 ft) = 135pi. So at 5 minutes, the car will be located 135pi/6 of the way around the wheel, or about 70.69 feet.