Question

Carrie and her friends hiked from the ranger's station due north for 3 miles then due west for 5 miles. If they hiked in a straight line back to the ranger's station, what distance would they travel? Round your answer to the nearest tenth of a mile.

four point zero miles

Answer 1

Have you used Pythagoras theorem before?

Answer 2

...no

Answer 3

using the formula
\[a ^{2}=b ^{2}+c ^{2}\]
where a is the length of the hypotenuse (ie the longest length in a right-angled triangle) you know that b=3 c=5
so what is a?