Noam walks home from school by walking 8 blocks north and then 6 blocks east. How much shorter would his walk be if there were a direct path from the school to his house? Assume that the blocks are square.

Question

anonymous · Answer

draw a right triangle with 8 units going up for the first section, 6 units going right for the second section, then connect the ends of the two lines to complete the triangle. then you can use the pythagorean theorem to find the length of the third side.

anonymous · Answer

i do not know the pythagorean theorem...

anonymous · Answer

a(squared)+b(squared)=c(squared)

anonymous · Answer

a and b are the short sides of the right triangle, c is the longest side.

anonymous · Answer

so i would do 8 squared + 6 squared = c squared?

anonymous · Answer

yes, so $$c=\sqrt{a ^{2}+b ^{2}}$$

anonymous · Answer

i got c=10

anonymous · Answer

correct

anonymous · Answer

so thats my answer?

anonymous · Answer

well, the question asks how much shorter would his walk be, so you need to subtract ten from how far he walks the other way.

anonymous · Answer

thank youu