SOLUTION: Avoiding a collision. A car is traveling on a road that is perpendicular to a railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car�s new collision detector wars the

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Question 124452: Avoiding a collision. A car is traveling on a road that is perpendicular to a railroad track. When the car is 30 meters from the crossing, the car�s new collision detector wars the driver that there is a train 50 meters from the car and heading toward the same crossing. How far is the train from the crossing?
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Found 2 solutions by checkley71, rapaljer:
Answer by checkley71(8403) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
30^2+X^2=50^2
900+X^2=1500
X^2=2500-900
X^2=1600
X=SQRT1600
X=40 THE DISTANCE THE TRAIN IS FROM THE CROSSING.

Answer by rapaljer(4671) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
This is a great application of the Theorem of Pythagoras! Can you see that the path of the car and path of the train are actually LEGS of a right triangle?? And, the hypotenuse of this right triangle is the direct distance of the train from the car at that moment!

So,

Of course, I have sections with detailed explanations of the Theorem of Pythagoras on my own website in Chapter 2 of my Basic Algebra. Send me an Email if you have trouble finding it!

R^2