A golfer, putting on a green, requires three strokes to "hole the ball." During the first putt, the ball rolls 5.33 m due east. For the second putt, the ball travels 2.09 m at an angle of 17.0 ° north of east. The third putt is 0.704 m due north. What is the magnitude of the displacement that would have been needed to "hole the ball" on the very first putt?

Question

shane_b · Answer

|dw:1346796409953:dw|Now just solve for the distance...it will require you to solve both triangles.

anonymous · Answer

Thanks for the help! But what do you mean solve both triangles? Can you splease set up the equation? thanks

shane_b · Answer

|dw:1346797645744:dw|Solve the bottom right triangle...and then you'll be able to see the entire length and height of the larger triangle (which encompasses the smaller one).  The displacement will be the hypotenuse of the larger triangle.

shane_b · Answer

Hint: 
Use the definition of sine and cosine to solve the smaller triangle's width and height.  Then add those values to the dimensions to the larger triangle.  From there you can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse which is the answer.