Question

John is going to the store. His house is located 3 miles south and 4 miles east from the store, as shown below. What is the shortest distance from his house to the store? Explain your reasoning.

Answer 1

To find the shortest distance from John's house to the store, we need to use the Pythagorean theorem.

Let's label John's house as point A, and the store as point B. Then, we can draw a right triangle with sides 3 miles (south) and 4 miles (east). The hypotenuse of this triangle will represent the shortest distance from John's house to the store.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can find the length of the hypotenuse:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2

c^2 = 3^2 + 4^2

c^2 = 9 + 16

c^2 = 25

c = 5

Therefore, the shortest distance from John's house to the store is 5 miles.