A plane is in contact with the Air Control Center. The Air Control Center has determined that the plane is 26 miles East and 42 miles North of the control tower. Find the direct distance from the tower to plane to the nearest whole mile?

I have the points written down but dont know what to do next.

1 Answer
qwertyuiopasdfghjklzxcvbnm
May 15, 2018

Use the Pythagorean Theorem: The answer is 49 miles rounded to the nearest whole number.

Explanation:

We use the Pythagorean Theorem to solve this problem.
#a^2 + b^2 = c^2#
So #26^2 + 42^2 = c^2#
676 + 1764 = #c^2#
2440 = #c^2#
We square root both sides
#sqrt(2440) = 49.3963561...#
Round to the nearest whole number: 49.396 is approx. 49.
Your answer would be 49 miles.

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