How many kilometres is she from her starting point?

Question

A driver drives 8 km South then 6 km W. and 2 km S. again. She then drives 3 km E. to avoid a traffic jam before driving 6 km N. How many kilometres is she from her starting point?

Answer 1

The best way to approach this sort of problem is to physically draw it out. With graph paper is best, but not necessary.

After drawing out the lines, you make a right-angle triangle with the ending point having lines stretching east to the first line and then NE to the original starting point. Looking at all your information, especially if you've used graph paper, you'll see that your right-angle sides are 3km and 4km. Use the Pythagorean theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2): 3^2 + 4^2 = 9 + 16= 25 . So c^2 = 25. c=5

ADDED: Not sure why somebody gave us all thumbs downs--we all have the same answer! Unless it's a trick question where it's supposed to be 8+6+2+3+6=25 km

Answer 2

5km from the starting point.

First, you calculate the kilometers the driver drove in a certain direction :

South = 8km + 2km = 10km

West = 6km

East = 3km

North = 6km

Then use calculate the remainder of the pairs of opposing directions ( North-South , East-West)

South-North = 10km- 6km

                     = 4km

West-East = 6km - 3km

                   = 3km

Using the pythagorean theorem, the driver is 5km away from the starting point.

Answer 3

5km if in a straight line.  7km if she can only drive in a N/S OR E/W direction.

Answer 4

5KM