Question 182748
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As stated, your question has an infinite number of answers because it doesn't state <i><b>where</b></i> the second baseman is standing when he makes the throw.


What I suspect the question meant to ask is:


<i>A baseball diamond is in the shape of a square, with the distance between consecutive bases of 90 feet. The second baseman, <i><b>who is standing on second base,</b></i> wants to make an out at home plate. How far must he throw the ball?</i>


The triangle with vertices at home plate, first base, and second base is an isoceles right triangle with legs that measure 90 feet, and the measure of the hypotenuse of this triangle is the answer to the re-stated question.


According to Pythagoras, the hypotenuse, <i>c</i>, is equal to the square root of the sum of the squares of the other two sides, *[tex \Large sqrt{a^2 + b^2}]


*[tex \LARGE \text{          }\math c = sqrt{a^2 + b^2}]


*[tex \LARGE \text{          }\math c = sqrt{90^2 + 90^2} = sqrt{2*90^2} = 90 sqrt{2}]


Is the exact answer.  Use your calculator and round to the nearest foot if you want an appropriate numerical approximation.


John
*[tex \LARGE e^{i\pi} + 1 = 0]
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