Question

the floor of a storage unit is 5 meters long and 12 meters wide. starting at the far left corner, heather walks down the length, across the width, and then diagonally back to the far left corner. how far does heather walk? meters

Explanation:

Step1: Calculate the sum of length and width

Heather walks down the length (\(5\) meters) and across the width (\(12\) meters). The sum of these two distances is \(5 + 12=17\) meters.

Step2: Calculate the diagonal length

The floor is a rectangle. By the Pythagorean theorem \(a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}\) (where \(a = 5\), \(b=12\), and \(c\) is the diagonal). So \(c=\sqrt{5^{2}+12^{2}}=\sqrt{25 + 144}=\sqrt{169}=13\) meters.

Step3: Calculate the total distance

The total distance Heather walks is the sum of the length, width, and diagonal. So \(17+13 = 30\) meters.

Answer:

\(30\)