Question

Jeff lives 12 miles east of Stan. Jeff lives 16 miles north of Wei. What is the shortest distance that Stan and Wei can live from each other?

Answer 1

|  \
|     \ 
| 16  \
|         \
|______\
 12

Envision this as a right triangle, with one leg of 12 miles, and the other 16 miles. Solve using the Pythagorean Theorem a²+b²=c²:

12²+16²=c²
400 = c²
20=c...they live at least 20 miles from each other.