SOLUTION: Suppose you travel north for 65 kilometers then travel east 75 kilometers. How far are you from your starting point?

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Question 77197: Suppose you travel north for 65 kilometers then travel east 75 kilometers. How far are you from your starting point?
Answer by tutorcecilia(2152) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
If you travel 65 km north and than 75 km east, you have formed the legs of a triangle. The distance traveled represents the hypotenuse of the triangle. Us the Pythagorean Theorem to solve:
%28a%5E2+%2B+b%5E2%29=%28c%5E2%29
a=65
b=75
c=the hypotenuse
.
Plug-in the values and solve for c:
%2865%5E2+%2B+75%5E2%29=%28c%5E2%29
%289850%29=%28c%5E2%29
%28sqrt%289850%29%29=%28sqrt%28c%5E2%29%29 [solve for the c-term by taking the square root of each side]
.
%28sqrt%289850%29%29=%28sqrt%28c%5E2%29%29
99.247=c
.
Check by plugging all of the values back into the original formula:
%28a%5E2+%2B+b%5E2%29=%28c%5E2%29
%2865%5E2+%2B+75%5E2%29=%2899.247%5E2%29
9850=9849.987 [close enough]