Question

Jack and Jill start driving from the same location. Jack drives 30 miles south while Jill drives west. If Jack and Jill are 78 miles apart when they stop, how many miles west did Jill drive? Show all work in solving the problem.

Answer 1

72 mles

Explanation:

For better understanding, I'll make use of an attachment.

From the attachment,

O represents the start point

`OB = 30` --- Jack

`AB = 78` -- Distance between them

Required

Find OA; Jack's distance

To do this, we make use of Pythagoras theorem

`AB^2 = OA^2 + OB^2`

This gives:

`78^2 = OA^2 + 30^2`

`6084 = OA^2 + 900`

Subtract 900 from both sides

`OA^2= 6084 - 900`

`OA^2= 5184`

Take square roots

`OA = √(5184)`

`OA = 72`

Hence, Jill drove 72 miles