Question

Solve the word problems. Round the answer to the nearest tenth.

Mark is on his way home for work. He drives 35 miles due North and then 42 miles due west. Find the shortest distance he can cover to reach home early.

54.7 miles


54.785 miles


547 miles


54 miles

Answer 1

Option A:

The shortest distance Mark can cover to reach home early is 54.7 miles.

Solution:

Towards North  = 35 miles

Towards West = 42 miles

Using Pythagoras theorem,

In right triangle, squares of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.

Let x be the hypotenuse.

$x^2=35^2+42^2$

$x^2=1225+1764$

$x^2=2989$

Taking square root on both sides, we get

$\sqrt{x^2}=\sqrt {2989}$

x = 54.67

x = 54.7

The shortest distance Mark can cover to reach home early is 54.7 miles.

Option A is the correct answer.