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In this example,
we are asked to solve an application that's going to utilize the Pythagorean theorem.
So let's see what's going on with this example. In NBA basketball
the width of the free throw line is 12 feet. So that's probably
an important part of our problem and
in this diagram, we have a player standing at one corner of the free throw line.
So this distance is 12 feet. He wants to throw a pass to his open teammate
across the lane and close to the basket. So he wants to throw a pass from
1 here,
to 2 here. If his other teammate
player 3, and player 3 is
heavily guarded, he's probably triple teamed or something,
is directly down the lane from him 16 feet. So
this distance here is going to be 16 feet. If this distance is 12 feet,
this distance is 12 feet. So the question is
how far is his pass to the open
teammate. So what we don't know is this distance.
So our right triangle is here
this is A length, this is B length
and this is C length. So we can set up
are Pythagorean theorem
A^2 + B^2 = C^2
were A is 16,
B is 12, and C we don't know yet.
16^2 is 256,
12^2 is 144, that equals
C^2. If I add these together
I get 400 equals
C^2. So what times itself
will give me 400. Well that's going to be 20
but I'm going to use the process
of taking the square root of both sides. The square root of 400
is 20.
That means this distance is 20 feet,
that means that,
the player must pass
the ball 20 feet
to reach
his open teammate.