Suppose Alex is navigating using a compass. She starts walking at an angle of 60° north of east and walks a total of 100 m. How far north is she from the starting point? How far east?

Explanation:

We can create a 30-60-90 triangle. The distance she walked is then the hypotenuse of the triangle, and using 30-60-90 triangle rules, we have the following:

The North leg is opposite to the angle. Therefore, if we call this distance , we have the following:

.

The East leg is opposite to the angle. If we call this distance , we have:

.