Question

A man drove 14 mi directly east from his home, made a left turn at an intersection, and then traveled 5 mi north to his place of work. If a road was made directly from his home to his place of work, what would its distance be to the nearest tenth of a mile?

Answer 1

14.9 miles

Explanation:

If the road was created, the 3 different roads would form a right triangle where the new road would be the hypotenuse and the other 2 roads would be the legs.

We can use the pythagorean theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse, or the new road:

a² + b² = c²

14² + 5² = c²

221 = c²

14.9 = c

= 14.9 miles