Question

A bus travels 9 miles north and 4 miles west from its original location. How far is the bus from the original location?

Answer 1

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve this problem. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides. In this case, the 9-mile distance the bus travels north and the 4-mile distance it travels west form the other two sides of a right triangle, and the distance we are looking for is the length of the hypotenuse.

So, we can calculate the distance as follows:

Distance = √(9² + 4²)
Distance = √(81 + 16)
Distance = √97
Distance ≈ 9.85 miles

Therefore, the bus is about 9.85 miles from the original location.