SOLUTION: I went cross-country skiing in a straight line 3 miles from my home, then made a 90 degree right turn and skied for another 4 miles. If I wanted to ski straight home from here, how

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Question 877871: I went cross-country skiing in a straight line 3 miles from my home, then made a 90 degree right turn and skied for another 4 miles. If I wanted to ski straight home from here, how far would I have to go?
Answer by jim_thompson5910(35256) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Draw out the picture and you'll find out that you're drawing a right triangle with legs 3 & 4. The hypotenuse is unknown (call it x for now).


Use the pythagorean theorem to solve for x

a%5E2+%2B+b%5E2+=+c%5E2
3%5E2+%2B+4%5E2+=+x%5E2
9+%2B+16+=+x%5E2
25+=+x%5E2
x%5E2+=+25
x+=+sqrt%2825%29 Note x+%3E=+0
x+=+5


The hypotenuse is exactly 5 miles long. So if you took the shortest route, then you would go 5 miles (instead of 3+4 = 7 miles)