On what bearing would a plane fly from Memphis to Jacksonville when New Orleans is 360 miles due south of Memphis and Jacksonville is 500 miles due east of New Orleans?

Answer 1

In fact you have the outline of a right angle triangle with an opposite side of 360 miles and an adjacent side of 500 miles.

Use the tangent ratio to find the interior angle of the triangle which will also be the alternate angle and add 90o to this which will give you the plane's bearing.

tan = 360/500 = 35.75388725 or 36o

36o+900 = 1260 = The plane's bearing from Memphis to Jacksonville.

Remember bearings are measured from north in a clockwise direction.