Question

The distance between consecutive bases in Major League Baseball is 90 feet. Find the distance from home plate to second base.

Answer 1

Assuming the bases are laid out in a square, then we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance from home plate to second base.

This distance is exactly the length of the hypotenuse of the right triangle that forms when you split the square along the diagonal. Let this distance be x

Each of the legs are 90 ft, so a = 90 and b = 90. The hypotenuse is c = x for now.

a^2 + b^2 = c^2
90^2 + 90^2 = x^2
8100 + 8100 = x^2
16200 = x^2
x^2 = 16200
sqrt(x^2) = sqrt(16200) ... apply the square root to both sides
x = 127.2792206
x = 127.3 .... round to the nearest tenth (one decimal place)

The final answer is 127.3 feet