Question

A pilot flies a plane south and then 600 miles west, where she lands the plane. how far south did the pilot fly the plane if she lands 610 miles from her starting point?

Answer 1

Connecting all the distances that the plane had covered, we will determine that it forms a right triangle with hypotenuse equal to 610 miles. Using Pythagorean theorem,
a² + b² = c²
Substituting the known values of legs and hypotenuse,
a² + 600² = 610²
The value of a from the equation is 110. Thus, the plane traveled 110 miles south.