Why are si measurements helpful

They are helpful because they help people have a common reference point when discussing something.

So are u adding some additional catalyst

The boat's velocity relative to the riverbank can be resolved into two components. the component going north is 2.7 m/s and the component going west is 1.2 m/s.we add these two vectors and then find the magnitude of the resultant to get the speed.the magnitude of the resultant vector from adding can be obtained by the pythagorean theorem.    to two significant figures, the boat's speed relative to the riverbank is 3.0 m/s.