How far is Molly from home when she reaches her school building?

Question

 Molly walks to school every day.  She needs to go 15 blocks south and 8 blocks west to get there. How far how far is Molly from home when she reaches her school building?

Answer 1

Hi, Paulett,

1.  It is a good idea to underline key words and numbers in the story problem:  15 blocks south,  8 blocks east.

2.  Draw a picture or model of what is happening.  You may want to make a quick compass first.  For example:

                  N  ↑

                      l

W _← __ __ ___ l_________{→ East             You are working with the Pythagorean Equation:  (side)² +(side)² = (hypotenuse)²}

                      l                                 Also, a²+ b²=c^{2                      (side)(side)   +   (side)(side)= (hyp.)(hyp.)}

                      l

                   S ↓

                       

                      . home                                       Use Pythagorean Equation:  (15)² + 8² = c²

                      l

                      l      15 blocks south (down ↓ )                                 (15)(15) +  64 = c²

 School            l                                                                               225 + 64 = c²

    .________ l

           8 blocks west   (←)

 

Now, you need to solve for "c," which is the distance from the school to the home (hypotenuse, c).  Add the left side together.  Then take the square root of both sides to find the value of "c."

 

Note:   √25= 5   because 5*5=25     √100=10   because 10*10=100        √36 =6 because   6*6=36

I hope that this helps.  I will let you finish your problem.  Thank you, Susan C.