Airplane's Journey: How Far Does It Fly?

Question:

An airplane flies from city a in a straight line to city b, which is 90 kilometers north and 180 kilometers west of city a. how far does the plane fly (in kilometers)? (round your answer to the nearest kilometer.)

Answer:

The airplane travels 202 kilometers from city A to city B. This calculation is derived using the Pythagorean Theorem.

Explanation:

This problem pertains to the concept of the Pythagorean Theorem, a formula in mathematics that relates the lengths of the sides in a right triangle. A plane flying from city A to city B creates a right triangle if you think of the path from A to city B as the hypotenuse of a right triangle, with City A and the point directly North as one leg (90 km), and the line from that North point to City B as the other leg.

According to the Pythagorean Theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2), the distance the plane flies would be the square root of (90^2 + 180^2). That calculation gives us 202.4 kilometers. Rounded to the nearest kilometer, as the question asks, the plane flies 202 kilometers.