Question

Bashir works in a weather station and has launched a weather ballon. The height of the baloon is 4 kilometers and it is 1 kilometer from the station. In kilometers, what is the approximate distance between the station and the balloon?
(a) 3.0
(b) 3.9
(c) 4.1
(d) 5.3

Answer 1

Answer:

(c) 4.1 km

Explanation:

We are given that the height of the balloon is 4 km and that it is 1 km away from the station.

Setting up the diagram that describes the given scenario, we would end up with a right-angled triangle as the one shown in the attached image

where:

height of the balloon = 4 km represents one side of the triangle

distance between the base of the balloon and the station = 1 km represents the other side

distance between the balloon and the station is the length we want to find and it represents the hypotenuse of the triangle.

To get the length of the hypotenuse, we will use the Pythagorean theorem

$hypotenuse = +\sqrt{(side1)^2 + (side2)^2}$

Substitute with the givens:

$hypotenuse = +\sqrt{(4)^2 + (1)^2}$ = √17 ≈ 4.1 km

Hope this helps :)