Question

You start driving north for 11 miles, turn right, and drive east for another 60 miles.

How many miles must you travel to return directly back to your starting point?

Answer 1

61 miles.

Explanation:

Given: driving north for 11 miles and drive east for another 60 miles.

As given in the question, the travelling pattern show a right angle triangle, where hypotenuse line is the way to return back directly to starting point. As shown in picture attached.

∴ we can say, adjacent (a) is 11 miles and opposite (b) is 60 miles

Now, using Pythagoras theorem to get distance to return.

`h^(2) = a^(2) +b^(2)`

⇒
`h^(2) = 11^(2) +60^(2)`

⇒
`h^(2) = 121+3600= 3721`

⇒
`h= √(3721)`

∴
`h= 61`

∴ 61 miles need to be travel to return back directly to starting point.