Please Help!! I cannot remember how to do a problem like this!!!

Ship A leave the port sailing east at 15 miles per hour. Two hours later, ship B leaves the port sailing south at 20 miles per hour. Express the distance D between the ships in terms of t, where t is the number of hours since the departure of ship A.

Question

Please Help!! I cannot remember how to do a problem like this!!!

Ship A leave the port sailing east at 15 miles per hour. Two hours later, ship B leaves the port sailing south at 20 miles per hour. Express the distance D between the ships in terms of t, where t is the number of hours since the departure of ship A.

campbell_st · Answer

start by drawing a picture and including the information you are given 

the keys are ship heading east after t hours is 15t from the start

and the ship heading south is 20t  from the start

|dw:1411029453476:dw|

use pythagoras theorem to find d... 

it all falls out nicely

hope it helped

campbell_st · Answer

oops |dw:1411029593613:dw|

anonymous · Answer

Thanks, that does help! I think I will be able to get it from here.