Pythagoras’ Theorem Answers

Calculator allowed. Give your answers correct to 1 decimal place unless otherwise stated.

1. Find the length of the side labelled with a letter.

8.5cm
5.0cm

3cm 3cm

4cm 8cm

3.6m 11mm

2m
5mm

12.1mm

3m

8.0cm
3cm

6cm
10cm 7.4cm
8cm

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 Pythagoras’ Theorem Answers

13.2cm

15mm
15cm 13mm
20cm

7.5mm

7cm

12cm
2cm 3cm

7.3cm

11.6cm

9cm

111.8cm
or
1.1m
50cm

20.1cm
22cm
1m

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 Pythagoras’ Theorem Answers

2. A football pitch is rectangular shaped, 120m long and 90m wide. If Claire and Steve stand at
opposite corners across a diagonal, how far apart will they be?
1202 + 902 = 22 500
22 500 = 150.0m

3. A rugby pitch is also rectangular shaped, with length 120m. Jane and Andrew stand at opposite
corners across a diagonal and are 139m apart. What is the width of the rugby pitch?
1392 – 1202 = 4921
4921 = 70.149…
70.1m

4. A boat sails 40km in a Northerly direction then 20km in a Westerly direction. How far is the boat
from its starting point now?
402 + 202 = 2000
2000 = 44.721…
44.7km

5. On a 1cm grid, what is the distance between the 6 marked on the y-axis and the 3 marked on the
x-axis?
62 + 32 = 45
45 = 6.708…
6.7cm

6. The longest side of an isosceles right-angled triangle is 10cm. What are the lengths of the shorter
two sides?
x2 + x2 = 102
2x2 = 100
x2 = 50
x = 7.071…
x = 7.1cm

7. A ladder is placed 48cm away from the foot of a wall on horizontal ground. The ladder is 4m long.
How far up the vertical wall does the ladder reach?
4m = 400cm

4002 – 482 = 157 696

157 696 = 397.109…
397.1cm or 3.8m

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 Pythagoras’ Theorem Answers

8. A flight of 6 steps leads to Leonie’s front door. Each step is 20cm high. She needs to build a ramp to provide
wheelchair access to her front door. If the ramp is 4m long, how much horizontal ground would it cover, if it
were to be placed over the steps?
6 × 20 = 120cm
4m = 400cm
4002 – 1202 = 145 600
145 600 = 381.575…
381.6cm or 3.8m
9. What is the distance between the points (2,5) and (1,9) on a coordinate grid with 1cm squares?
Third coordinate = (1, 5)
42 + 12 = 17
17 = 4.123…
4.1cm
2
10. The area of a right-angled isosceles triangle is 8cm . What is its perimeter?
1
2
×x×x=8
x = 16
2

x = 4cm
42 + 42 = 32
32 = 5.656…
4 + 4 + 5.656… = 13.656…
13.7cm
11. Give the coordinates of 6 points which are 5cm from (1,1) on a coordinate grid with 1cm squares.
Any which are 3 horizontally and 4 vertically or 5 vertically or 5 horizontally from (1,1)
12. A rectangular field is 100m wide and 200m long. Joyce runs along one of the widths, the following length and
then along the diagonal where she started. She repeats this circuit 20 times. During her run, her telephone rings.
What is the probability that it rings when she is running along the diagonal? Give your answer to 2 decimal places.
2002 + 1002 = 50 000
50 000 = 223.606…
(200 + 100 + 223.606…) × 20 = 10 472.135…m
(223.606… × 20) ÷ 10 472.135… = 0.427…
0.43
13. The ratio of side lengths in a right-angled triangle is 3:8:y. Give two possible values of y.
32 + 82 = 73
73 = 8.544…
8.5cm
82 – 32 = 55
55 = 7.416…
7.4cm
8.5 or 7.4

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