Question

A mouse wanders through a maze 3 feet East, 4 feet North, 2 feet East, & then 5 feet North. How far is the mouse from its starting point?

Answer 1

≈ 10.4 feet

Explanation:

By forming two right triangles with the given measurements, you can use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the diagonal of both triangles and find the total distance from the starting point for the mouse.

Pythagorean Theorem: a² + b² = c², where 'a' and 'b' are the legs of the triangle (base and height) and 'c' is the hypotenuse (diagonal).

Given the first set of data: 3 feet east and 4 feet north, the first triangle would be: 3² + 4² = c² or 9 + 16 = c² so 25 = c² or c = 5 ft

Given the second set of data: 2 feet east and 5 feet north, the second triangle would be 2² + 5² = c² or 4 + 25 = c² so 29 = c² or c ≈ 5.4 ft

Add the two distances: 5 + 5.4 = 10.4 ft

Answer 2

10.3

Explanation:

The distance traveled is like the hypotenuse of the triangle:

so, using the Pythagorean Theorem, the distance (d) can be calculated from 9^2 + 5^2 = d^2 or d = √106 which is approx 10.3 feet