Two cars leave the same parking lot, with one heading north and the other heading east. After several minutes, the eastbound car has traveled 3 kilometers. If the two cars are now a straight-line distance of 5 kilometers apart, how far has the northbound car traveled? kilometers
Question
Two cars leave the same parking lot, with one heading north and the other heading east. After several minutes, the eastbound car has traveled 3 kilometers. If the two cars are now a straight-line distance of 5 kilometers apart, how far has the northbound car traveled? kilometers
Solution
This problem can be solved using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.
Here, the straight-line distance between the two cars forms the hypotenuse, the distance traveled by the eastbound car forms one side, and the distance traveled by the northbound car forms the other side.
Given:
- The eastbound car has traveled 3 kilometers.
- The straight-line distance between the two cars is 5 kilometers.
We can set up the equation as follows:
(distance traveled by the northbound car)^2 = (straight-line distance)^2 - (distance traveled by the eastbound car)^2
Let's plug in the given values:
(distance traveled by the northbound car)^2 = (5 km)^2 - (3 km)^2 (distance traveled by the northbound car)^2 = 25 km^2 - 9 km^2 (distance traveled by the northbound car)^2 = 16 km^2
Taking the square root of both sides gives us the distance traveled by the northbound car:
distance traveled by the northbound car = √16 km^2 = 4 kilometers.
So, the northbound car has traveled 4 kilometers.
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