Miguel hiked 3 miles due north and then 2 miles due east. How far is he from his starting point?

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Answer 1 · 2018-04-17T18:01:20

He is 3.6 miles from his starting point.

Begin by drawing the diagram to set up the situation
3 miles north
2 miles east
Resultant =?

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Now we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve for the Resultant distant.

#a^2 + b^2 = c^2#

#3^2 + 2^2 = R^2#

#9 + 4 = R^2#

#13 = R^2#

#sqrt13 = R#

#3.60 = R#