Pythagorean Word Problems: Real-Life Applications

A ladder is leaning against a wall. The foot of the ladder is 6 feet away from the wall, and the top of the ladder reaches a height of 8 feet. How long is the ladder?

• 8 feet

• 12 feet

• 10 feet

• 5 feet

A rectangular garden has a length of 10 meters and a width of 24 meters. What is the length of the diagonal of the garden?

• 20 meters

• 22 meters

• 30 meters

• 26 meters

A right triangle has one leg that measures 9 cm and another leg that measures 12 cm. What is the length of the hypotenuse?

• 13 cm

• 10 cm

• 15 cm

• 17 cm

A baseball diamond is a square with each side measuring 90 feet. What is the distance from home plate to second base?

• 90√2 feet

• 45√2 feet

• 180 feet

• 90 feet

A 15-foot tall tree casts a shadow that is 20 feet long. If you were to walk directly from the top of the shadow to the top of the tree, how far would you walk?

• 20 feet

• 15 feet

• 30 feet

• 25 feet

A ramp is built to connect a loading dock that is 4 feet high to the ground. If the base of the ramp is 3 feet away from the dock, how long is the ramp?

• 7 feet

• 5 feet

• 6 feet

• 4 feet

A triangular park has one side measuring 7 meters and another side measuring 24 meters. If the park is a right triangle, what is the length of the third side?

• 20 meters

• 25 meters

• 30 meters

• 15 meters

A kite is flying at a height of 30 meters. If the string of the kite is 50 meters long, how far is the kite from the point on the ground directly below it?

• 30 meters

• 40 meters

• 60 meters

• 20 meters

A right triangle has a hypotenuse of 13 cm and one leg measuring 5 cm. What is the length of the other leg?

• 10 cm

• 8 cm

• 6 cm

• 12 cm

A person walks 8 blocks north and then 6 blocks east. How far are they from their starting point?

• 12 blocks

• 5 blocks

• 8 blocks

• 10 blocks