Question

A sidewalk forms the diagonal of a square park. The sidewalk is 30 meters long. To the nearest tenth of a meter, how long are the sides of the park ?

Answer 1

Sidewalk is the diagonal of the square shaped park.
Length of the Diagonal l = 30 m
Formula for the length of the diagonal of a square l = square root of 2 x s; s being the side.
Therefore square root of 2 x s = 30 => s = 30 / square root of 2 = 30 / 1.414 Side of the Square s = 21.21 m

Answer 2

We can use the Pythagorean Theorem (A² + B² = C²) to solve for the lengths of the sides. We know that the diagonal, C, is 30 meters long, so C² = 900 meters. We know that since the park is square, A² + B² = 2A² = 2B²

900 = 2A²

A^2 = 450

Taking the square root of 450, we find that the lengths of A and B are roughly 21.2 meters.