Problema Solution
two cars leave an intersection. one car travels north; the other east. when the car traveling north had gone 15 miles, the distance between the cars was 5 miles more than the distance traveled by the car heading east. how far had the east bound car traveled?
Answer provided by our tutors
let 'x' represent the distance that the east bound car traveled, x>=0
the distance between the cars was 5 miles more than the distance traveled by the car heading east means the distance between the cars was: x + 5
using the Pythagorean Theorem we can write:
15^2 + x^2 = (x + 5)^2
by solving we find:
x = 20 mi
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the east bound car traveled 20 miles.