Question

Matt and John met for a coffee. At 2:00 pm, Matt drove due south at 45 mph and John drove due west at 50 mph. At 3:00 pm, approximately how far apart are Matt and John

Answer 1

The distance between them

is 67 miles

Explanation:

Here, we want to know how far apart they both are

From the question, the time they have both driven is 1 hour

Mathematically;

distance = speed * time

For Matt,

distance Is = 45 * 1 = 45 m

For John

distance is 50 * 1 = 50 m

To find the distance between them, we will use pythagoras’ theorem which states that the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the two other sides

In this question, the hypotenuse is the distance between the two sides

Thus; we have

D^2 = 45^2 + 50^2

D^2 = 2025 + 2500

D^2 = 4525

D = √4525

D = 67.27

this is approximately 67 miles