Question

A surfer drives his dune buggy out into the sand dunes. He follows his compass 10 miles due north and then turns due west. If he ends up approximately 35 mi from where he started, how far west did he travel?

10 miles
25 miles
33.5 miles
35 miles

Answer 1

the answer is 33.5 miles

Answer 2

Okay so here's the explanation.. First let's sketch this problem



let x be how far he travelled in the west direction...
now you can see by pythagorean theorem:

\[35^{2}=10^{2}+x^{2}\]
\[35^{2}-10^{2}=x^{2}\]
\[\sqrt{35^{2}-10^{2}}=x\]
\[\sqrt{1125}=x\]
\[33.5410966 miles=x\]

rounding off we'll have x=33.5 miles