Rosa works due north of home. Her husband Ray works due east. They leave for work at the same time. By the time Rosa is 5 miles from home, the distance between them is one mile more than Ray's distance from home. How far from home is Ray Ray?
Question
Answer:
Ray is 12 miles from home.Let x be Ray's distance from home. His distance is one leg of a right triangle; 5, Rosa's distance from home, is the other. The hypotenuse, the distance between them, is 1 more than Ray's distance from home, or x+1. Using the Pythagorean theorem,
5²+x²=(x+1)²
25+x²=(x+1)(x+1)
Multiplying the binomials, we have
25+x²=x*x+1*x+1*x+1*1
25+x²=x²+1x+1x+1
25+x²=x²+2x+1
Subtracting x² from both sides,
25 = 2x+1
Subtracting 1 from both sides,
24 = 2x
Divide both sides by 2, and we have
12 = x
Ray is 12 miles from home.
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