Three students are sitting on a school bus. Billy is 4meters directly behind Sidney and 3meters directly left of Gordon. Billy makes a paper airplane and throws it to Sidney. Sidney throws the airplane to Gordon, who throws it back to Billy. How far has the paper airplane traveled?_____ meters
Q. Three students are sitting on a school bus. Billy is 4meters directly behind Sidney and 3meters directly left of Gordon. Billy makes a paper airplane and throws it to Sidney. Sidney throws the airplane to Gordon, who throws it back to Billy. How far has the paper airplane traveled?_____ meters
Identify Distances: question_prompt: How far has the paper airplane traveled after being thrown by all three students on the school bus?
Recognize Triangle: Identify the distances between the students. Billy to Sidney is 4 meters, and Billy to Gordon is 3 meters.
Apply Pythagorean Theorem: Recognize that the distances form a right triangle with Billy, Sidney, and Gordon at the vertices.
Calculate Distance: Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the distance from Sidney to Gordon. a2+b2=c2, where a is 3 meters, b is 4 meters, and c is the distance from Sidney to Gordon.
Simplify Equation: Plug in the values: 32+42=c2, which simplifies to 9+16=c2.
Find Square Root: Add the values: 9+16=25, so c2=25.
Add Distances: Take the square root of both sides to find c: c2=25, which means c=5 meters.
Calculate Total Distance: Add up the total distance the paper airplane traveled: 4 meters (Billy to Sidney) + 5 meters (Sidney to Gordon) + 3 meters (Gordon to Billy).
Calculate Total Distance: Add up the total distance the paper airplane traveled: 4 meters (Billy to Sidney) + 5 meters (Sidney to Gordon) + 3 meters (Gordon to Billy). Calculate the total distance: 4+5+3=12 meters.