Question

From her house, Meg must drive 8 miles due north to visit her aunt. From her house, she must drive 15 miles due east to visit her grandmother. Which is the straight-line distance from Meg's aunt's house to her grandmother's house?

Answer 1

To find the straight-line distance from Meg's aunt's house to her grandmother's house, we can use the Pythagorean theorem.

Let the distance from Meg's house to her aunt's house be represented by side A (8 miles) and the distance from Meg's house to her grandmother's house be represented by side B (15 miles).

The straight-line distance can be calculated using the formula:

c^2 = a^2 + b^2

where c is the straight-line distance, a is the distance to Meg's aunt's house, and b is the distance to Meg's grandmother's house.

Plugging in the values, we get:

c^2 = 8^2 + 15^2
c^2 = 64 + 225
c^2 = 289

Taking the square root of both sides:

c = √289
c = 17

Therefore, the straight-line distance from Meg's aunt's house to her grandmother's house is 17 miles.