Question

Kelvin leaves home and walks 5 blocks east and 10 blocks north to get to the ballpark. How far is the ballpark from Kelvin's home if he were to take a direct path? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

A) 11.2 blocks
B) 11.8 blocks
C) 13.4 blocks
D) 15.8 blocks

Answer 1

Using the Pythagorean theorem, the straight-line distance from Kelvin's home to the ballpark is found to be approximately 11.2 blocks, illustrating a practical scenario of a two-dimensional path.

Step-by-step explanation:

The task is to find the straight-line distance from Kelvin's home to the ballpark. If Kelvin walks 5 blocks east and 10 blocks north, the scenario can be visualized as a right-angled triangle where the two paths (east and north) represent the perpendicular sides of the triangle. The straight-line path would then be the hypotenuse of this triangle. Applying the Pythagorean theorem (a2 + b2 = c2), we calculate the hypotenuse:

1. For the eastward path, a = 5 blocks
2. For the northward path, b = 10 blocks
3. Calculate c2 = (5)2 + (10)2
4. c2 = 25 + 100
5. c2 = 125
6. Take the square root of both sides to find c
7. c ≈ √125 ≈ 11.2 blocks

Therefore, the ballpark is approximately 11.2 blocks away from Kelvin's home on a direct path.