Question

In Stamford, the library is 7 kilometers south of the courthouse and 4 kilometers west of the community swimming pool. If a bird flew directly from the courthouse to the library, then from the library to the swimming pool, and then from the swimming pool back to the courthouse, what would be the total distance flown? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve this problem. Let's call the courthouse point A, the library point B, and the swimming pool point C. Then we can use the distance formula to find the distances between the points:

AB = sqrt((7 km)^2 + (4 km)^2) ≈ 8.1 km
BC = 7 km
CA = sqrt((7 km)^2 + (4 km)^2) ≈ 8.1 km

The total distance flown would be the sum of these distances:

AB + BC + CA ≈ 8.1 km + 7 km + 8.1 km ≈ 23.2 km

Therefore, the bird would have flown approximately 23.2 kilometers in total.