Question

Macy is returning from her school. She travels 2 miles west and 3 miles north. How far is she from her school?

Answer 1

Draw a diagram to show Macy's movements:

Notice that a right triangle is formed, where the hypotenuse has the same length as the distance from Macy to the School. According to the Pythagorean Theorem, the hypotenuse has a length which is the square root of the sum of the squares of the legs of the right triangle:

`\begin{gathered} d=\sqrt[]{(3)^2+(2)^2} \\ =\sqrt[]{9+4} \\ =\sqrt[]{13} \\ \approx3.61 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, she is approximately 3.61 miles apart from the school.