Question

Two airplanes leave the same airport. One heads north, and the other heads east. After some time, the northbound airplane has traveled 15 miles. If the two airplanes are 39 miles apart, the eastbound airplane has traveled __ miles.

Answer 1

Answer:

36 miles

Explanation:

Let's go ahead sketch the given problem as shown below;

From the above diagram, we can go ahead and determine x, which is the distance the eastbound plane has traveled, using the Pythagorean theorem;

$\begin{gathered} 39^2=x^2+15^2 \\ 1521=x^2+225 \\ x^2=1521-225 \\ x=\sqrt[]{1296} \\ x=36\text{miles} \end{gathered}$