Two ships leave a port at the same time. the first ship sails on a bearing of 42 degrees at 12 knots (nautical miles per hour) and the second on a bearing of 132 degrees at 24 knots. how far apart are they after 1.5 hours? (neglect the curvature of the earth.)

The answer is 40.25 [nmi]

Explanation:

1) We use the equation for linear movement with constant velocity

2) Let´s focus on ship 1 first

3) Now ship 2

4) Now we know how far apart are the ships from the port, if we draw a line from Ship 1 to Ship 2, we can see we form a triangle rectangle, since ship 1 left on a bearing of 42° and ship 2 on a bearing of 132°C, we know they left on a bearing of 90° from each other, since 132-42 = 90

5) We have a triangle rectangle, we know two of its sides, we can use the pythagoras therom to solve for the distance between the two ships: