Math 135 homework

Question

After obtaining a warrant, the police attached a GPS tracking device to the car of a murder suspect. Suppose the car was located at the origin of a Cartesian coordinate system when the device was attached. Shortly afterwards, the suspect's car was tracked going 9 mi due east, 6 mi due north, and 1 mi due west before coming to a permanent stop.

a) What are the coordinates of the suspect's car at its final destination?

(x, y) =

 

 

(b) What was the distance traveled by the suspect?

 

(c) What is the distance as the crow flies between the original position and the final position of the suspect's car?

 

Answer 1

1) Start at (0,0). 9 units east (to the right) arrives at point (9,0). 6 units north (up) takes it to (9,6). Then 1 unit west (left) is at (8,6), the final destination.

2) Total distance is 9 + 6 + 1 = 16 units (miles).

3) The crow's flight distance between origin and point (8,6) is the hypotenuse of right triangle with sides 6 and 8. This is the special 3:4:5 right triangle, or in this case, one that is twice the size (6:8:10) So the distance asked for is 10 units (miles)