A ship sails due north 3 kilometres( Point A) and then due east 16 kilometres(Point B) the returns to its original starting point. How far does it travel from point b back to the start. ( Shortest Distance)
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To find the shortest distance from Point B back to the start, we need to determine the distance between the start and end points of the ship's journey.
Since the ship sails 3 kilometers due north (Point A) and then 16 kilometers due east (Point B), we can visualize this as a right-angled triangle. The ship's journey forms the hypotenuse of this triangle, with Point A and Point B as the other two vertices.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can calculate the length of the hypotenuse (the distance between the start and end points):
c² = a² + b²
Let's substitute the given values into the formula:
c² = (3 km)² + (16 km)²
c² = 9 km² + 256 km²
c² = 265 km²
To find the length of the hypotenuse (c), we take the square root of 265:
c ≈ √265
c ≈ 16.278 km
Therefore, the ship traveled approximately 16.278 kilometers from Point B back to its original starting point along the shortest distance.