Question

A hot air balloon rises straight up 500 feet, then catches a breeze and is blown west 1,000 feet. How far is the balloon from the point of liftoff?

Answer 1

would it still be one thousand feet?
Because the 500 shouldn't matter
If it does then it's 1500

Answer 2

Distance between balloon and point of liftoff is 1118 feet.

Explanation:

A hot air balloon rises straight up 500 feet. It catches a breeze and is blown west 1000 feet.

Since this phenomenon is three dimensional but I have drawn it in 2 dimensions.

So distance between balloon and the liftoff point will be

x² = 1000² + 500²

`x^(2)=10^(6)+0.25(10)^(6)`

=
`1.25(10)^(6)`

x =
`\sqrt{1.25(10)^(6) }`

= 1.118×1000

= 1118 feet

Therefore, distance between balloon from the point of liftoff is 1118 feet