So essentially these people have made a right triangle. The hypotenuse is going to be the distance from Bill to Ron.
Let's abbreviate B for Bill, J for John, and R for Ron.
J -> R = 30 yds
J -> B = 40 yds
These two lengths are the legs of the right triangle.
B -> R = hypotenuse of the right triangle.
Let's find the distance from B to R using the Pythagorean Theorem:
![30^(2) + 40^(2) = c^(2)](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/e3lmqbhwllwjp0pxcom1lvv1w5t6i9np9e.png)
![900+1,600= c^(2)](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/3scwd6lptct44sgx4oyi2wwzj1mobe4mvx.png)
![2,500= c^(2)](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/n1qm72cf3af2luy4on7ehpg93bmflha5ts.png)
![√(2500) = \sqrt{c^(2) }](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/93cz6c3kbgfbi7bj03flxyord3zi4nc2we.png)
![c=50](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/70sedv7003j4t2lilba66p2358k628oeu1.png)
We now know that the hypotenuse is 50 yds.
The question wants to know the distance from R -> B (50 yds) and B -> J (40 yds). Let's add those together to get the total distance the football traveled:
![50+40=90 yds](https://img.qammunity.org/2019/formulas/mathematics/middle-school/tpa95bxuaedokcxzsky2tqcydf1ex1irq5.png)
The football traveled
90 yds total.