Question

thomas leaves his house to go to school. he walks 300meters west and 500 meters. north. how far away is he from the starting point.

Answer 1

By employing the Pythagorean theorem, we find that Thomas is approximately 583 meters away from his starting point after walking 300 meters west and 500 meters north.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how far Thomas is from his starting point after walking 300 meters west and 500 meters north, we can use the Pythagorean theorem.

This is a common mathematical problem where we find the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle, with the two legs representing Thomas's westward and northward displacements.

Let's let the westward displacement be represented by 'a' and the northward displacement by 'b'. The distance from the starting point 'c' (the hypotenuse) can be found using the equation:

c² = a² + b²

Substitute the given distances into the equation:

c² = (300 m)² + (500 m)²

c² = 90,000 m² + 250,000 m²

c² = 340,000 m²

Now take the square root of both sides to find c:

c = √340,000 m²

c ≈ 583 meters

Thomas is approximately 583 meters away from his starting point.