Question

jamal wants to estimate the distance across the gorge shown in the diagram below. He stands at point Y and locates a tree at point X directly across the gorge to the north. He then walks west along the gorge 500ft and marks point A. After walking another 500ft in the same direction, he turns 90 degrees and walks south, perpendicular to the gorge. He stops when his location appears to form a straight line with points A and X. Jamal measures the distance BC as 327 ft.

Answer 1

Explanation:

To estimate the distance across the gorge, Jamal can use the following steps:

First, he can draw a diagram to represent the situation. He can label points Y, X, A, and B on the diagram and draw the lines YX and AB to represent the locations of the tree and the points he marked.

Next, he can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance AC. The theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In this case, the side AC is the hypotenuse, and the sides YA and YC are the other two sides. Therefore, he can use the theorem to find AC as follows:

AC^2 = YA^2 + YC^2

He knows the values of YA (500ft) and YC (327ft), so he can substitute these values into the equation and solve for AC:

AC^2 = 500^2 + 327^2

AC^2 = 250000 + 107649

AC^2 = 357659

AC = √357659

AC ≈ 597.56 ft

Finally, he can use the distance AC to estimate the distance across the gorge. The distance across the gorge is equal to the distance from X to Y, which is equal to the sum of the distances from X to A and A to Y. Therefore, he can estimate the distance across the gorge as follows:

distance across gorge = XA + AY

distance across gorge = AC + YA + YC

distance across gorge = 597.56 ft + 500 ft + 327 ft

distance across gorge ≈ 1424.56 ft

This is Jamal's estimate of the distance across the gorge.