Question

A jogger runs 5.0 km on a straight trail at an angle of 60 south of west. What is the southern component of the run rounded to the nearest tenth of a kilometer?

Answer 1

The components are the sides S and W of a right triangle with SW = 5 km as the hypotenuse. It helps to sketch out these types problems.

Using the 60°south of west angle would make W adjacent and S opposite to the angle. using SOH CAH TOA

sin(60) = S/5
5*sin(60) = S
5*√(3)/2 = S
4.3 km = S