Question

​françoise and maurice cut diagonally across a 30​-foot-by-120​-foot vacant rectangular lot on their way to school. how much distance do they save by not staying on the​ sidewalk?

Answer 1

the path is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs 30 and 120.

30² + 120² = c²

900 + 14400 = c²

15300 = c²

c=√15300 ≈123.7'

instead of walking 30+120=150 feet they save 26.3 feet by taking the shortcut