Expert: Chanda Walker - 3/28/2009

Question
Students walking to class cut the corner across the parking lot.  Going the long way meant walking 30 feet north and then 50 feet west.  How many fee did they save themselves by cutting across the corner.

I don't even know where to begin..

Answer
You need to use the Pythagorean theorem.  It says that if you have a right triangle, you can calculate the hypotenuse from the lengths of the other two sides.
Here is the theorem:
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
where a and b are the lengths of the two sides and c is the hypotenuse of a right triangle.

a = 30
b = 50
900 + 2500 = 3400

c = Sqrt(3400)
c = 10Sqrt(34) = 58.3 ft

Let me know if I can help further.