The club members hiked 3 km north and 4 km east but then went directly home. How far did they hike home?

Answer: 5 km

Step-by-step explanation:

This situation is a Pythagorean Theorem problem so we will use the Pythagorean Theorem rule that A^2 plus B^2 is equal C^2.

so if they hiked 3 km north, three in this case will be the height of the right triangle or in other words, one of the legs of the right triangle.

And if they hiked 4 km east then 4 in this case will also be one of the legs. So is asking what is the hypotenuse.

So in this case square the two legs and add them up to find the square root.

3^2 + 4^2 = C^2

9 + 16 = c^2

25 = c^2 Find the square root of 25

c = 5

So in this case they hiked 5 km straight home.