Question

A hummingbird lives in a nest that is 3 meters high in a tree. The hummingbird flies 5 meters to get from the nest to a flower on the ground. How far is the flower from the base of the tree

Answer 1

Answer: 4 meters.

Step-by-step explanation: You need to set up the Pythagorean Theorem, which is a^2 + b^2 = c^2. The c is the hypotenuse. A is 3 because it is the height. We are trying to find b, the distance from the flower to the tree. C is 5.

Plug in the numbers.

3^2 + b^2 = 5^2.

Simplify.

9 + b^2 = 25.

Isolate b by subtracting 9 from each side.

B^2 =16.

Square root each side.

B = 4.

The flower is 4 meters away from the base of the tree.

Answer 2

It is 4 meters from the base of the tree.
Imagine a right triangle. The right angle is formed by the line from the nest to the ground, and the line from the tree to the flower. The hypotenuse is the direct distance from the nest to the flower. The hypotenuse is 5 meters, and the height of the nest is 3 meters. If the distance from the flower to the base of the tree is X, then 3^2 + x^2 = 5^2. So, x = 4.