Question

Kendra is swimming in a rectangular swimming pool that is 25 feet wide by 60 feet long.
If she swims diagonally across the pool, about how many feet does Kendra swim?
A.) 13
B.) 55
C.) 65
D.) 85

Answer 1

With rectangles, if you cut a diagonal through them you create right triangles. With this info, we can use the pythagorean theorem to solve for the diagonal, or the hypotenuse in this case. The equation is $leg^2+leg^2=hypotenuse^2$. Our equation can be solved as such:

$25^2+60^2=x^2\\ 625+3600=x^2\\ 4225=x^2\\ 65=x$

In short, if Kendra swims diagonally, she swims 65 ft, or the third option.