Question

An ant crawls along a sidewalk with a velocity of 0.1 m/s in a direction that is 45 degrees relative to the edge of sidewalk. If it has traveled 1 m perpendicular to the edge of sidewalk, how long has it been walking

Answer 1

First draw a diagram (see attached picture).

We know the any traveled 1 m away from the sidewalk, and since we have a 45-45-90 triangle we know that the horizontal distance traveled is also 1 m. Use a^2+ b^2 = c^2 to find the distance the ant traveled. We get sqrt(2).

V=displacement/time
So 0.1 = sqrt(2) / t
Solve for the to get sqrt(2)/0.1 = 14.14 seconds.