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Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems
Word Problem
Picture
1. A wire is stretched from the
top of an 8-ft pole to a bracket 5
ft from the base of the pole. How
long is the wire?
2. A helicopter rose vertically
300 m and then flew west 400m.
How far was the helicopter from
its starting point?
3. A park is in the shape of a
rectangle 8 miles long and 6
miles wide. How much shorter is
your walk if you walk diagonally
across the park than along two
sides of it?
4. The bases on a softball
diamond are 60 feet apart. How
far is it from home plate to
second base?
5. A 50-ft cable is stretched from
the top of an antenna to an
anchor point on the ground 15 ft.
from the base of the antenna.
How tall is the antenna?
6. A ship leaves port and sails 12
kilometers west, then 19
kilometers north. How far is the
ship from the port?
7. A rectangle is 3 meters wide
and 10 meters long. How long is
the diagonal of the rectangle?
Work
8. Each side of a checkerboard
measures 40 cm. What is the
length of its diagonal?
9. A box is 120 cm long and 25
cm wide. What is the length of
the longest ski pole that could be
packed to lie flat in the box?
10. A television screen measures
30 cm wide and 22 cm high.
What is the diagonal measure of
the screen?
11. Mariah’s bedroom is 17 feet
long and 24 feet diagonally from
one corner to anther corner.
How wide is Mariah’s bedroom?
12. An 18 foot ladder is leaned
against a wall. If the base of the
ladder is 8 ft from the wall, how
high up on the wall will the
ladder reach?
13. Anna has let out 50 meters of
kite when she observes that her
kite is directly above Emily. If
Anna is 35 meters from Emily,
how high is the kite?
14. The window of a burning
building is 24 meters above the
ground. The base of a ladder is
placed 10 meters from the
building. How long must the
ladder be to reach the window?
15. A bird is sitting on the
ground 5 feet from an 18 foot tall
oak tree. If the bird flies directly
to the top of the tree, how far
does the bird fly?