Question

A standard baseball diamond is a square with 90-foot sides and a base at each corner. To the nearest foot, what is the greatest possible distance a player on one base would have to throw to a player on a different base

Answer 1

The longest distance would be from two opposite bases. For example, if we were to connect home plate with 2nd base, the line between the two bases would be longer than the distance between home and 1st. This is because in a right triangle, the hypotenuse is always the longest side.

We can use Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance.

$a^2 + b^2 = c^2$

$90^2+90^2 = c^2$

$c^2 = 16200$

$c= \sqrt{16200}$

$c = 127.28 feet$

To the nearest foot, the answer is 127 feet.