SITUATIONAL PROBLEMS INVOLVING PYTHAGOREAN THEOREM

Directions: Read and analyze the following situations. Illustrate and answer each problem by forming a right triangle.
1. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 1 inch longer than the longer leg. The shorter leg is 7 inches shorter than the longer
leg. Find the length of the hypotenuse.
2. Carrie works dues south of her apartment. Her friend Sarah works due east of the apartment. They leave for work at the
same time. By the time Carrie is 5 miles from their apartment, the distance between them is 1 mile more than Sarah’s
distance from the apartment. How far from the apartment is Sarah?
3. A guy wire is attached to a telephone pole. The distance from the point where the wire touches the ground to the base of
the telephone pole is 4 feet less than the length of the wire. How far up the telephone pole is the wire attached if the
distance from the ground to where the wire is attached to the pole is 2 feet less than the length of the wire?
4. The foot of a ladder is 10 feet from the wall. The ladder is 2 feet longer than the height that it reaches on the wall. What is
the length of the ladder?
5. The hypotenuse of a right triangle is 3 less than twice the length of the shorter leg. Find the length of the hypotenuse if
the longer leg is 12 centimeters.
6. A tree is supported by a wire anchored in the ground 9 feet from its base. The wire is 1 foot longer than the height that it
reaches on the tree. Find the length of the wire.
7. The length of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is 3 inches more than twice the length of the shorter leg. The longer leg is
7 inches longer than the shorter leg. Find the length of the longer leg.
8. Mark travels due north from home. His wife Kay works due west. They leave for work at the same time. By the time Mark
is 10 miles from home, the distance between them is 2 miles more than Kay’s distance from home. How far from home is
Kay?
9. Joe cuts out a piece of paper in the shape of a right triangle. The longer leg of the triangle is 20 inches longer than twice
the length of the shorter leg. The hypotenuse is 30 inches longer than twice the length of the shorter leg. What is the length
of the longer leg?
10. The foot of an extension ladder is 15 feet from the wall. The ladder is 7 feet less than three times longer than the height
that it reaches on the wall. What is the length of the ladder?
11. A person has to walk 100 m to go from position X in the north of east direction to the position B and then to the west of
Y to reach finally at position Z. The position Z is situated at the north of X and at a distance of 60 m from X. Find the
distance between X and Y.

12. Find the perimeter of a rectangle whose length is 150 m and the diagonal is 170 m.

13. A ladder 13 m long is placed on the ground in such a way that it touches the top of a vertical wall 12 m high. Find the
distance of the foot of the ladder from the bottom of the wall.
14. The height of two building is 34 m and 29 m respectively. If the distance between the two building is 12 m, find the
distance between their tops.
15. Mrs. Bullock is teaching a 5th grade class. She is standing 6 meters in front of Tessa. Anna is sitting to Tessa's right. If
Anna and Mrs. Bullock are 10 meters apart, how far apart are Tessa and Anna?
16. Jing is building a slide for his kids. If the ladder is 3 meters tall and he wants the bottom of the slide to be 4 meters from
the ladder, how long does the slide need to be?
17. Jennifer looks around at an assembly. She notices her younger sister to her right and her older brother 5 meters ahead
of her. If Jennifer's brother and sister are 13 meters apart, how far apart are Jennifer and her younger sister?
18. Maria is playing hide-and-seek with Jim and Kyle. Jim is hiding 12 feet south of Maria, and Kyle is hiding 16 feet east of
Jim. How far apart are Maria and Kyle?
19. In Rockport, the library is 9 kilometers due south of the courthouse and 12 kilometers due west of the community
swimming pool. What is the distance between the courthouse and the community swimming pool?
20. From his house, Evan could drive due north to get to his parents' house or he could drive due east to get to his
grandparents' house. It is 15 miles from Evan's house to his parents' house and a straight-line distance of 17 miles from his
parents' house to his grandparents' house. How far is Evan from his grandparents' house?
21. Clarence bicycles 8 miles west to get from his house to school. After school, he bicycles 6 miles north to his friend
Joseph's house. How far is Clarence's house from Joseph's house, measured in a straight line?
21. William is fishing from a small boat. His fishing hook is 4 meters below him, and a fish is swimming at the same depth as
the hook, 3 meters away. How far away is William from the fish?
22. Brett is decorating a ballroom ceiling with garland. If the rectangular ceiling is 5 meters by 12 meters, how much garland
will Brett need to reach from one corner of the ceiling to the opposite corner?
23. A hummingbird's nest is 12 feet high in a tree and a flower is on the ground 9 feet away from the base of the tree. How
far will the hummingbird need to fly to get from its nest to the flower?
24. From a train station, one train heads north, and other heads east. Sometime later, the northbound train has traveled 12
miles, and the eastbound train has traveled 16 miles. How far apart are the two trains, measured in a straight line?