Question

The birds shown on the graph below are flying toward one another at the same speed and same altitude on a straight line course. The birds start from points A(-4,4) and B(10,-2). How far will each bird fly (to the nearest mile) before they collide, if each grid on the graph represents 5 miles?



[1] 8 miles

[2] 10 miles

[3] 38 miles

[4] 40 miles

Answer 1

horizontal distance covered = 14*5 = 70 miles
vertical distance covered = 6*5 = 30 miles
Use Pythagoras theorem to work out the length of the hypotenuse, then divide it by 2 to get the distance travelled by each bird

Answer 2

i know the answer is 38 but i just dont know how to get that @shiraz14

Answer 3

@emilyy123: Do you understand the part about the horizontal & vertical distance in my post above?

Answer 4

yeah i get that part

Answer 5

but i dont get the rest

Answer 6

Ok, so the distance the birds are travelling is the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle with a horizontal of 70 miles & vertical of 30 miles. We can show this by an illustration below:

We use Pythagoras Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse, then divide it by 2 since each bird flies to the mid-point of the hypotenuse before they meet.

Answer 7

ohh but ur supposed to radical it and then i got 53 which is not the right answer

Answer 8

you will get a decimal but round it to the nearest whole number
and then divide it by 2 because if both birds are flying at the same speed
that means they actually meet in the middle of the red line = half of the total miles c