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An ant needs to travel along a 20cm × 20cm cube to get from point A to point B. What is the shortest path he can take, and how long will it be (in cm)?

An ant needs to travel along a 20cm × 20cm cube to get from point A to point B. What-example-1
User Fgeorgiew
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1 Answer

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Each edge of the cube is 20cm. If it stayed on the edges it would need to walk on 3 edges for a total distance of 3 x 20 = 60 cm.

If it walked diagonally across the front face and then one edge it would travel:

Diagonal = sqrt(20^2 + 20^2) = 28.28

Total distance waling a diagonal and then an edge = 28.28 + 20 = 48.28 cm

The shortest distance would be diagonally across the front face then the edge to point B and the distance would be 48.28 cm.

User Matthew Sielski
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