Question

A woman starts at the origin and walks 7m along the x-axis. She then turns 90° and walks parallel to the y-axis for 6m. How far is she from the origin? Express your answer in m to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

9.2m

Step-by-step explanation:

Think of the woman's path as a triangle. She walks 7m horizontally and 6m vertically. These are the two legs of a triangle. In order to find her distance from the origin, we can use pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse of the triangle. The hypotenuse will give us the direct measurement from the origin (0,0) to her current point (7,6).

a²+b²=c²

(7)²+(6)²=c²

49+36=c²

85=c²

Find the square roots of both sides to get c=9.21954...

Round your answer to the nearest 10th:

c=9.2m

The woman is approximately 9.2m from the origin.