Question

A person walks \(10\) km towards the north, then turns to his left and walks \(5\) km, and then again turns to his left and walks \(10\) km. How far is he from his starting point now?

• A. \(10\) kilometers
• B. \(20\) kilometers
• C. \(15\) kilometers
• D. \(5\) kilometers

Hint:

In direction problems, always check if movements in opposite directions cancel each other before applying distance formulas.

Answer 1

The Correct Option is D

To solve this problem, let's visualize the path taken by the person step-by-step and determine his final distance from the starting point.

Here are the movements described in the question:

1. The person walks \(10\) km towards the north.
2. Then he turns left and walks \(5\) km.
3. Again, he turns left and walks \(10\) km.

Let's analyze these movements:

1. From the starting point, walking \(10\) km north.
2. After turning left (west), walking \(5\) km.
3. Turning left again (south), the person walks the same distance he walked north, i.e., \(10\) km.
4. At this point, after walking \(10\) km south, he reaches a position that is directly west of the starting point.

Since the person is now directly west of where he started and only \(5\) km away (as he has walked \(5\) km west), the distance from the starting point is \(5\) km.

Therefore, the distance from the starting point is 5 kilometers.

The correct answer is: 5 kilometers.