Question

Two cars leave the same parking lot, with one heading north and the other heading east. After several minutes, the northbound car has traveled 3 kilometers, and the eastbound car has traveled 1 kilometer. Measured in a straight line, how far apart are the two cars? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.​

Answer 1

The two cars are approximately 3.16 kilometers apart when measured in a straight line.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the distance between the two cars, we can treat their paths as the legs of a right triangle. The northbound car has traveled 3 kilometers and the eastbound car has traveled 1 kilometer. Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can calculate the distance between the cars as follows:

d = sqrt((3 km)^2 + (1 km)^2) = sqrt(9 + 1) = sqrt(10) ≈ 3.16 km

Therefore, the two cars are approximately 3.16 kilometers apart when measured in a straight line.