Question

Meg lives in Indianapolis and wants to visit her mom in Lima. She has been meaning to go to a chiropractor in Dayton, so she is wondering whether it makes sense to stop there on the way. Dayton is 165165165 miles east of Indianapolis, Lima is due north of Dayton, Indianapolis is 173173173 miles away from Lima, and there are straight roads connecting all three cities.
How many more miles would Meg drive if she stopped in Dayton first than if she drove directly to Lima?

Answer 1

Answer: 44 miles

WORKINGS

Given,
The distance between Indianapolis and Lima, IL = 173 miles
The distance between Indianapolis and Dayton, ID = 165 miles
The distance between Dayton and Lima, DL is unknown

Since there are straight roads connecting the three cities, the connection between them form a right angles triangle.

The right angle is at Dayton
The hypotenuse is the distance between Indianapolis and Lima, IL

Therefore IL^2 = ID^2 + DL^2
173^2 = 165^2 + DL^2
DL^2 = 173^2 – 165^2
DL^2 = 29929 – 27225
DL^2 = 2704
DL = 52 miles

Therefore, The distance between Dayton and Lima, DL = 52 miles

The question is asking how many more miles would Meg drive if she stopped in Dayton first than if she drove directly to Lima.

That is, Distance of Indianapolis to Dayton + Distance of Dayton to Lima – Direct distance of Indianapolis to Lima
That is, ID + DL – IL
= 165 miles + 52 miles – 173 miles
= 217 miles – 173 miles
= 44 miles

Therefore, Meg would drive 44 more miles if she stopped in Dayton first than if she drove directly to Lima.