SOLUTION: A 1000 foot railroad track expands 6 inches because the day is very hot. This causes end L to break off and move to position D forming a right triangle RLD. Find DL .../|D ../.|

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Question 831394: A 1000 foot railroad track expands 6 inches because the day is very hot. This causes end L to break off and move to position D forming a right triangle RLD. Find DL
.../|D
../.|
./..|
R----L
Answer by KMST(5328) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The expansion is 6inches=0.5ft .
Drawing not to scale:
According to the Pythagorean theorem, RL%5E2%2B1000%5E2=1000.5%5E2 (RL in ft)

Solving:
RL%5E2%2B1000%5E2=1000.5%5E2
RL%5E2=1000.5%5E2-1000%5E2
RL%5E2=1000.25
RL=sqrt%281000.25%29
RL=approximatelyhighlight%2831.6%29

With the end of that piece of track shifted 31.6 feet to the side, from point L to point R, a train would surely derail.