The total minimum distance traveled before getting stuck in traffic rounded to the nearest tenth of a mile is 8.6 miles
Given the coordinates :
A = (−3, 1)
B = (1, 4)
C = (5, −2)
Recall the Euclidean distance formula :
[tex]d \: = \sqrt{(x_{2} -x_{1})^{2} + (y_{2} -y_{1})^{2} } [/tex]
Distance traveled from branch A to branch B :
[tex] x_1 = -3 [/tex]
[tex] x_2 = 1 [/tex]
[tex] y_1 = 1 [/tex]
[tex] y_2 = 4 [/tex]
[tex]d \: = \sqrt{(1 -( - 3))^{2} + (4 -1)^{2} } [/tex]
[tex]d \: = \sqrt{(4)^{2} + (3)^{2}} = \sqrt{16 + 9} = 5[/tex]
Distance traveled from branch B to branch C :
[tex]d \: = \sqrt{(5 -1)^{2} + ( - 2 - 4)^{2} } [/tex]
[tex]d \: = \sqrt{(4)^{2} + ( - 6)^{2}} = \sqrt{16 + 36} = 7.211[/tex]
Half the distance between Branch B and C :
[tex] \frac{7.211}{2} = 3.6055 \: miles [/tex]
Total minimum distance traveled :
Therefore, the total minimum distance traveled is 8.6 miles.
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