Two boats leaving from a port. One headed North(9 miles per hour) and One headed West(40 miles) distance after two hours.

Question

Two boats leave a port at the same time. One travels North at 9 miles per hour,and the other travels west at 40 miles per hour.How far apart are they after from the port two hours?

Answer 1

Since one boat is traveling north and the other is traveling west, they are traveling at right angles to each other.  

 

In two hours, the northbound boat travels (9 mph)(2 hours) = 18 mi

and the westbound boat travels (40 mph)(2 hours) = 80 mi.

 

The distance, D,  between the boats after 2 hours can be found by using the Pythagorean Theorem:

 

D² = 18² + 80² = 6724

 

So, D = √6724 = 82 miles