Dear Reader,
Below are 3 questions requiring you to measure distances between points based on data given in questions.

Question 1

Study of animals is a passion for a few scientists.They spend their life time in trying to analyse the behaviour of animals – like tigers, elephants, lions, bears etc. Michael is one such scientist interested in studying the behaviour of bears. He was in the North Pole where one can find quite a good number of bears. One day morning around 8 am he came to his lab. Thereafter he went four kilometers by walk in the northern direction. After taking rest at that spot for a few minutes he went for three kilometers in the eastern direction and there he spotted a group of bears. How far from his starting place was he and what is the colour of the bear?

a) 5 km, black b)5 km, white c)4 km, white d)4 km black.

Answer : b) 5 km, white

Solution :

For finding out the distance you have to apply Pythagoras theorem and find the distance.
√ 3² + 4² = 5
Since the scientist is in North Pole , he can find only white bears.

Question 2

Mr. Edward , a scientist started from his house going after a black bear and went 2 metres towards East.He then turned towards right and goes 25 metres and again goes towards East travelling 15 metres and then turns left and travelled for 18 metres.He then goes towards east and travels 7 metres to reach the spot where black bear was there.How far is he from the house?

a) 13 m b)15 m c) 20 m d) 25 m

Answer : d) 25 m

Solution :

Here the scientist goes two metres towards east from his house.(starting point). Then he turned right and walked 25 metres towards south. At this stage he turned left and travelled towards east 15 metres. He stopped there and turned left and travelled 18 metres and then he turned right and walked towards east 7 metres. He stopped at that place and got the black bear.

When the movement of the scientist is drawn his present position can be found out using Pythagoras theorem.
On the one side it will be 7 metres and on the other side it will be 24 m (2 + 15 + 7).
Applying Pythagoras theorem --- √ 7² + 24²
= 25 m.

Note: In this problem you have to draw the diagram carefully and also identify the correct distances – Some may be misled to take one side as 2 m and other side as 24 m. The first sentence in the problem guides some people to mark the figure wrongly.

Question 3

Louis Pasteur, a scientist walked one day 20 km towards North. He turned left and walked 40 km . He again turned left and walked 20 km. Finally he moved 20 km after turning to the left. How far is he from his starting position?

a) 20 km b) 30 km c) 50 km d) 60 km

Answer : a) 20 km

Solution :

Louis Pasteur started from his place and went 20 km towards north. Then he turned left and walked 40 km. At this stage he turned left and walked 20 km. Finally he moved 20 km after turning left. It may be seen that his present position is 20 km from the starting point. The starting point is to his right side now.