Question

Stephen buys a new moped. He travels 3 km south and then 4 km east. How far does he need to go to get back to where he started?

Answer 1

5 km will be the answer .

First he goes 3km south and then 4km east , so to reach the place from where he started he can either take a long cut and trace the line from where he came from so that will make it 7km but if he opts for a shortcut then he needs to go in the North-West direction.

If he goes in the North-West direction then we observe a right angle triangle be made , so the distance that he will be travelling will be our hypotenuse.

Acc. to Pythagoras theorem, we get

Hypotenuse = 5

Thus, Stephen needs to go 5km in the North-West direction.

hope it helps..

Answer 2

Explanation:

If he's going back using the same roads, then he would have to drive 4km west and then 3km north. If he wants to go diagonally straight to the point of his beginning, then you apply the Pythagorean theorem. c2 = a2

+ b2 - the 2 means squared

c2 = 4 squared + 3 squared =

c2 = 16 + 9

c2 = 25 =

c = SquareRoot of 25

C = 5

If he goes diagonally, then he needs to travel

5km.