A car travels straight for 20 miles on a road that is 30 degrees 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 part of the displacement along the east direction. Since the road is 30° north of east, use cosine: 20 cos(30°) ≈ 20(0.866) = 17.3 miles. The displacement is eastward, so the component is positive; the correct choice is 17.3 miles.

AI-written and checked against the verified answer.