If you drive 5 miles east and then 4 miles south, how far are you, to the nearest tenth of a mile, from your starting point?

Question

If you drive 5 miles east and then 4 miles south, how far are you, to the nearest tenth of a mile, from your starting point?

Answer 1

Hello! What this question is really doing is creating a right triangle. From a starting point,draw a line 5 miles right, then 4 miles down and connect them (this creates the right triangle). What it's asking is: "What is the length of the hypotenuse of this triangle?" You'll use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve this: a²+b²=c².