2. Cole went hiking near his house. The first trail took him 7 miles away from his
house. The second trail took him 3 1/2
miles closer to his house. The third trail
took him 2 2/5 miles further away from his
house. How many miles from his house
was Cole after he finished hiking the third
trail?

There should only be 1 solution

First step is to get rid of the square root. remember that a square root is the same as raising to the (1/2) power. see below: multiply exponents per exponent rules to get: remember you subtract exponents from the denominator and add exponents in the numerator so: simplify further: so a is the correct choice. if you don't understand this google exponent rules and it will you understand. look at the image results.