On a town map, each unit of the coordinate plane represents 1 mile. three branches of a bank are located at a (-3, 1), b (2, 4), and c (4, - 2). a bank employee drives from branch a to branch b and then drives halfway to branch c before getting stuck in traffic. what is the minimum total distance the employee may have driven before getting stuck in traffic? round to the nearest tenth of a mile if necessary. answer

To compute for distance from a to b:

Distance A = 4 miles, base of triangle formed between a and b

Distance B = 3 miles, height of triangle formed between a and b

Distance AB = (A^2 + B^2) ^0.5 hypotenuse of triangle formed between a and b, or square root of (A^2 + B^2)

Distance AB = ((4) ^2 + (3) ^2) ^0.5

Distance AB = (16 + 9) ^0.5

Distance AB = (25) ^0.5

Distance AB = 5 miles

To compute for distance from b to where bank employee got stuck

BC = distance from b to c

BC = 4 miles

Total distance driven by bank employee

= AB + 0.5 (BC)

= 5 + 0.5 (4)

= 5 + 2

= 7 miles, total distance driven by the bank employee