Question

You start driving north for 16 miles, turn right, and drive east for another 30 miles. At the end of driving, what is your straight line distance from your starting point?

Answer 1

The distance between starting and ending point is 34 miles.

Explanation:

Given,

Car moves 16 miles to north then 30 mile to east.

It forms a right angle triangle.

The straight line distance from starting to ending point represents hypotenuse.

To find the distance between starting and ending point.

Formula

By Pythagoras theorem,

h² = b²+l² where h is the hypotenuse, b is base and l is the another side.

Taking, b=16 and l=30 we get,

h² = 16²+30²

or, h =
`√(256+900)`

or, h =
`√(1156)` = 34

Hence,

The distance between starting and ending point is 34 miles.