Problem:
Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport is 8 miles southwest of downtown St. Paul and 10 miles southeast of downtown Minneapolis. Which of the following is closest to the number of miles between downtown St. Paul and downtown Minneapolis?
Answer Choices:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
Solution:
Let downtown St. Paul, downtown Minneapolis, and the airport be located at , and , respectively. Then has a right angle at , so by the Pythagorean Theorem,
The problems on this page are the property of the MAA's American Mathematics Competitions