Two cars leave an intersection one car travels east the other north when the car traveling east had gone 15 miles the distence between the cars was 5 miles more than the distence traveled by the car?

Answer 1

Let x = Car traveling east

x+5 = Distance between the 2 cars

Since the distance traveling is a right triangle, you can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve. a^2 + b^2 = c^2

So plug in the numbers.

15^2 + x^2 = (x+5)^2

225 + x^2 = (x+5)(x+5) <--Use FOIL

225 + x^2 = x^2 + 10x + 25

- x^2 -x^2

225 = 10x +25

-25 -25

200=10x

x=20