In this question the unit vectors i\mathbf{i}i and j\mathbf{j}j are due east and due north respectively, and all distances are in kilometres.
At noon, ship A A\,A is at the point (4i+6j)(4\mathbf{i} + 6\mathbf{j})(4i+6j) relative to a port OOO, and moves with constant velocity (3i−2j)(3\mathbf{i} - 2\mathbf{j})(3i−2j) km h−1^{-1}−1.
At the same time, ship B B\,B is at the point (−2i−4j)(-2\mathbf{i} - 4\mathbf{j})(−2i−4j) relative to OOO, and moves with constant velocity (6i+3j)(6\mathbf{i} + 3\mathbf{j})(6i+3j) km h−1^{-1}−1.
Write down, in terms of ttt, the position vector of each ship t t\,t hours after noon.
Show that the two ships collide, and state the time at which this happens.
168 exam-style questions on OCR (MEI) A Level Maths 1.11 Vectors, covering 1.11.1 Language of vectors in two dimensions, 1.11.2 Add, subtract and scale vectors, 1.11.3 Magnitude and direction of a vector, 1.11.4 Position vectors, 1.11.5 Distance between points by position vectors, 1.11.6 Vectors to solve problems, 1.11.7 Language of vectors in three dimensions (A-level only), and 1.11 Vectors. Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.