Real-life Application of

the Pythagorean

Theorem

Example #1:

Each day you walk past a rectangular athletic field on your way home from school. If the field is being used, you walk along two

sides of the field. If the field is not being used, you cut across from corner to corner. If you take 300 steps along one edge of the field

and 500 steps along the other edge, approximately how many steps do you save by walking diagonally across the field?

300

step

s

500 steps

c09.583

c340000

c340000

c25000090000

c500300

cba

2

2

222

222

300 + 500 = 800800 – 583 = 217

You save 217 steps.

Example #2

A school’s basketball hoop is mounted on a 10 foot pipe that is cemented into the ground. To stop it from swaying, some students put a brace from behind the hoop to a point on the ground that is 8 feet from the cement base. What is the length of the brace from the hoop to the ground? Round your answer to the nearest foot.

8 feet

10 fe

et

c806.12

c164

c164

c64100

c810

cba

2

2

222

222

The brace is about 13 feet.

Example #3:

A 30-foot ladder is leaning against a house, with the foot of the ladder 8 feet from the house. If the foot of the ladder is pulled 7 more feet from the house, how far down the side of the house will the ladder move? Round you answer to the nearest foot.

913.28b

836b

836b

900b64

30b8

cba

2

2

222

222

980.25b

675b

675b

900b225

30b15

cba

2

2

222

222

28.913 – 25.980 = 2.933 The ladder slid down the house 3 feet.