A car travels straight for 20 miles on a road that is 30° north of east. What is the east component of the car’s displacement to the nearest tenth of a mile?

The east component is the horizontal component of the 20-mile displacement. Since the direction is 30° north of east, use 20 cos(30°) = 20(0.866) ≈ 17.3 miles. The component is positive because the car travels east, so the answer is 17.3 miles.

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