Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems

Madison is on the top of an 80 foot building. She is creating a zipline course to the ground with 100 feet of cable. How far from the base of the building will she need to anchor the cable to make the zipline cable tight?

• 60 feet

• 20 feet

• 180 feet

Solve for the value of y

• 13

• 5

• 23

• 10

Two joggers run 8 miles north and then 5 miles west.  What is the shortest distance back to their starting point to the nearest tenth of a mile?

• 13

• 9.4

• 6.2

• 9

Find the length of the missing side.

• 25 cm

• 42 cm

• 52 cm

• 48 cm

Find h

• 35.60

• 35.00

• 35.71

• 61.03

An airplane flies 56 miles due north and then 33 miles due east. How many miles is the plane from its starting point?

• 65 miles

• 89 miles

• 45.4 miles

• We don't have enough information.

The bottom of a ladder must be placed 3 feet from the wall. The ladder is 12 feet long. How far above the ground, does the ladder touch the wall?

John leaves school to go home. He walks 6 blocks North and then 8 blocks west. How far is John from the school?

Donna's TV screen is 20 inches long. If the diagonal measures 25 inches, how long is the width of Donna's TV?

Jake plans to use a ramp to make it easier to move a piano out of the back of his truck. The back of the truck is 83 centimeters tall and the ramp is 158 centimeters long. What is the horizontal distance from the end of the ramp to the back of the truck?