Two ships leave the same port in different directions, forming a 120° angle between them. One ship travels 70 mi. and the other 52 mi. before they each drop their anchors. What is the distance between the ships to the nearest mile?

Answer: The distance between the ships will be about 106.04 miles.

To do this problem, we will need to use the Law of Cosines. We have all the values we need, we just have to enter them and evaluate.

Our missing side will be called c and the equation will be:

c^2 = 70^2 + 52^2 - 2 (70) (52) (Cos120)

c^2 = 4900 + 2704 + 3640

c^2 = 11244

c = 106.04