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Part 1
Suppose that two people standing 3 miles apart both see the burst from a fireworks display. After a period of time, the first person, standing at point A, hears the burst. One second later, the second person, standing at point B, hears the burst. If the person at point B is due west of the person at point A, and if the display is known to occur due north of the person at point A, where did the fireworks display occur? Note that sound travels at 1100 feet per second.
To find the location of the fireworks display, we can use the concept of the time it takes for sound to travel from the location of the fireworks display to each person.
Since sound travels at 1100 feet per second, we can convert the distance between the two people (3 miles or 15840 feet) to time. It would take sound approximately 14.4 seconds to travel from point A to point B.
Given that the person at point A heard the burst first and the person at point B heard it 1 second later, we know that the fireworks display occurred closer to point A. Since the person at point B is due west of the person at point A, we can conclude that the fireworks display must have occurred north and slightly east of point A.