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Mary leaves and walks 9 km due south from home, turns and walks 12 km west to get to the store.How far would Mary need to walk in a straight line to get back home?

Question

Mary leaves and walks 9 km due south from home, turns and walks 12 km west to get to the store.How far would Mary need to walk in a straight line to get back home?

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Solution

To solve this problem, we can use the Pythagorean theorem because the path Mary took forms a right triangle. The Pythagorean theorem 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. This can be written as: a² + b² = c².

Here, the distance Mary walked south can be one side of the triangle (a = 9 km), the distance she walked west can be the second side (b = 12 km), and the straight-line distance home is the hypotenuse (c).

So, we can set up the equation as follows:

9² + 12² = c² 81 + 144 = c² 225 = c²

To solve for c, we take the square root of both sides:

c = √225 c = 15

So, Mary would need to walk 15 km in a straight line to get back home.

This problem has been solved

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