Question

Simon and his friend Garfunkel went hiking at a local state park. From the starting point, Simon went 5 miles due east but Garfunkel went 10 miles due north. How many miles from each other did they end up.

Answer 1

Place the starting point at the origin. Simon is at (5,0) and Garfunkel at (0,10). Their separation is the hypotenuse of a right triangle:

distance = sqrt(5^2 + 10^2) = sqrt(25 + 100) = sqrt(125) = 5√5 ≈ 11.18 miles.