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prealgebra intermediate

Problem

While walking on a plane surface, a traveler first headed 19 miles north, then 16 miles west, then 3 miles south and finally 4 miles east. How many miles from the starting point was the traveler after these four legs of the journey?
Solution
In total, the traveler went 16 miles north and 12 miles west. This forms a 12-16-20 (3-4-5) Pythagorean triple, so the traveler is miles away from the starting point.
Final answer
20