Question

Honour is on her way home from school.
She walks 3 miles North and then 4 miles East. What is the shortest distance she can cover to reach home the fastest? Don't forget your units (miles).

Answer 1

To determine the shortest distance Honor can cover to reach home the fastest, we can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse of a right triangle, where the two legs are the distances walked in the North and East directions.

Given that Honor walked 3 miles North and 4 miles East, the shortest distance she can cover to reach home the fastest is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with legs measuring 3 miles and 4 miles.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we have:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2, where c represents the hypotenuse, and a and b represent the lengths of the legs.

c^2 = 3^2 + 4^2
c^2 = 9 + 16
c^2 = 25

Taking the square root of both sides, we find:

c = √25
c = 5

Therefore, the shortest distance Honor can cover to reach home the fastest is 5 miles.