A ship traveled 15 miles due west then turned 90 degrees and traveled 8 more miles due south. At that point, the ship was ordered to use the shortest distance to return to its starting point. How far must the ship travel from its current location to reach its starting point?

Step-by-step explanation:

If the ship travels a distance of 15 miles due west and the 8 miles due south, what we have here is the 2 legs of a right triangle.  The hypotenuse is the shortest distance back to its starting position.  Use Pythagorean's Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse:

and

and

and the square root of 289 is 17

Thus, the shortest distance back will be 17 miles.  Not much shorter than the route he took there, if you think about it.  The route he took there was 15 + 8 which is 23 miles. Only a difference of about 6 miles.  

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step-by-step explanation:

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