Question

Mary and Jan are both at a gas station at Hill and Elm. From the station, Mary Drives 24 miles north and Jan drives 10 miles west. Find the distance between Mary and Jan.

Answer 1

Look at the picture.

x is the distance between Mary and Jan.

Using the Pythagorean theorem:
$x^2=10^2+24^2 \\ x^2=100+576 \\ x^2=676 \\ x=\sqrt{676} \\ x=26$

The distance between Mary and Jan is 26 miles.