A softball diamond has the shape of a square. The distance from home plate to second base is about 85 ft. Find the distance a player would run going from first base to second base.
+40 Because the distance between home to 1st base and 1st to 2nd base is the same, and Angle(Home->1st base->2nd base) is a right angle, we must use the pythagorean theorem. The distance from home to second base is the hypotenuse in this case. And since tht distance is 85 meters in this problem, plug 85 in the Pythagorean theorem (opposite squared plus adjacent squared equals hypotenuse squared) for the hypotenuse. Now because the opposite and adjacent sides are the same, \({Opposite}^{2}+{Opposite}^{2}={85}^{2}=7225=2\times{Opposite}^{2}\)
Thus, \({Opposite}^{2}=\frac{7225}{2}\rightarrow Opposite=\sqrt{\frac{7225}{2}}\)
