Question

John drove his car due east for 8 miles. He then turned south and drove 15 miles. How far was he from where he started?

Answer 1

Answer:

John was 17 miles away from where he started.

Step-by-step explanation:

The easiest approach to this problem is to draw it out (check the attached image). Going East and turning South is the same as drawing a line towards the right, and then down on the paper.

Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we know that the sum of the square of the legs (2 smallest sides of a right triangle) is equal to the square of the hypotenuse of that triangle. In other words, $a^2 + b^2 = c^2$.

So to solve this, work backwards:

$8^{2}+15^{2} =c^{2}\\64 + 225 = c^{2}\\289 = c^{2}\\c = \sqrt{289}\\ c = 17$

Answer 2

The distance between the initial and final point will be 17 miles.

What is a Pythagoras theorem?

The Pythagoras theorem states that the sum of two squares equals the squared of the longest side.

This can be expressed as

H² = P² + B²

John drove his car due east for 8 miles.

He then turned south and drove 15 miles.

Then the distance between the initial and final point will be

H² = 8² + 15²

H² = 64 + 225

H² = 289

H = 17 miles

More about the Pythagoras theorem link is given below.

https://brainly.com/question/343682

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