Physics

To determine the magnitude of the boat's resultant velocity with respect to the starting point, we need to consider both the speed of the boat in still water and the speed of the river's current as perpendicular components of the velocity.

Given:

Speed of the boat in still water (east) = 4 m/s

Speed of the river current (south) = 3 m/s

Since these two speeds are perpendicular to each other, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the resultant velocity:

Where:

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