Question

A professional baseball diamond is a square. Thedistance from base to base is 90 ft. To the nearest foot,how far does a catcher standing at home plate throwthe ball across the diagonal of the square to secondbase?

Answer 1

We have this diagram:

We have to calculate D, using the Pythagorean theorem:

$\begin{gathered} D^2=A^2+A^2=2A^2 \\ D=\sqrt{2A^2}=\sqrt{2}\cdot A \\ D\approx1.414\cdot90=127.26\approx127 \end{gathered}$

A catcher standing at home plate is at 127 ft across the diagonal from second base.