If you have traveled 200 meters on a bearing of 0 degrees and then 400 meters on a bearing of 90 degrees, can you return to your starting point? What course would you take?

To understand how to return to the starting point after traveling the specified distances on given bearings, it is important to visualize the path taken:

1. Beginning at the starting point, traveling 200 meters on a bearing of 0 degrees means moving straight north.
2. From that point, traveling 400 meters on a bearing of 90 degrees means moving straight east.

This creates a right triangle where:

• The vertical leg (northward) measures 200 meters.
• The horizontal leg (eastward) measures 400 meters.

To return to the starting point, one would need to retrace the steps, effectively retracing the legs of the triangle.

The correct course to return is 270 degrees, which is directly south, to cover the vertical leg of 200 meters back to the original latitude. After reaching this point, you would then travel west on a bearing of 180 degrees for the 400 meters to return to the original starting point.

Thus, choosing 270 degrees for 400 meters corresponds to moving southward that first leg of the triangle, before then moving back west to align with the original position. This logical route confirms the correctness of the answer provided, illustrating a clear path back to the origin defined by the movements previously made