Problema Solution

3) A surveyor sets up two markers that are along one bank of a wide river. Across the river is a huge boulder next to the river bank. The surveyor determines the bearings from the two markers to the rock to be E 84 degrees N from the left marker and W 76 degrees N from the right marker. From the right marker, the surveyor walks towards the other marker until he determines that he is perpendicular to the boulder. If he walked 11.22 yards, find the width of the river and the distance between the markers. (There are two answers)

Answer provided by our tutors

Well, not being a surveyor, I'm a little uncertain about how to picture the angles but I am going to assume the following:


"E 84 degrees N from the left marker" means that if you are located directly at the left marker and looking east, then a sweep angle of 84 degrees towards the north would align your view to the boulder; conversely, "W 76 degrees N from the right marker" means that if you are located at the right marker and looking west, then a sweep angle of 76 degrees towards the north would align your view to the boulder


this becomes a simple trig problem of right triangles since the surveyor is perpendicular to the boulder after walking a straight line between the two markers for 11.22 yards; we also assume that all measurements are taken within the same altitude plane


the three sides, "marker right"-boulder-"current position", form a right triangle with a base leg of 11.22 yards whose other leg represents the distance across the river


let 'x' represent the distance across the river, then we have:

tan(76-degrees) = x/11.22

x = 11.22 * tan(76) = 45


the distance across the river is 45 yards, and we find the distance between the markers by solving a right triangle whose sides are "the distance from the surveyor to the left marker", "the distance across the river" [now known] and "the distance from the right marker to the boulder":

let 'x' now represent the distance from the left marker to the surveyor, then:

tan(84) = 45/x

x = 45/(tan(84)) = 4.729


11.22 + 4.729 = 15.95


the distance across the river is approximately 45 yards, the distance between the two markers is approximately 16 yards