You are boating on a river that flows toward the east. Because of your knowledge of physics, you head your...?

Question

You are boating on a river that flows toward the east. Because of your knowledge of physics, you head your boat 53 degrees west of north and have a velocity of 6.0 m/s due north relative to the shore.

a. What is the velocity of the current?

b. What is the speed of your boat relative to the water?

Please help me with this problem.
I'm having trouble understanding it.

I'm having a hard time creating the triangle for this problem.
Please help.

Answer 1

Sy = 6 m/s
a) Sx = 6 m/s * tan(53) = 7.96 m/s (rounded down) or 8 m/s
b) S = 6 m/s / cos(53) = 9.97 m/s (rounded up) or 10 m/s

That a 3-4-5 right triangle.

Answer 2

In words......... The triangle is a 3-4-5 right triangle with the hypotenuse pointing 53° W of N, the short leg points directly across the river, and the long leg points upstream.
H = boat speed through water
S = speed of the boat across the river (relative to river bottom)
L = current speed

Hope this helps,