Ask any eighth or ninth grader what they think of Algebra or Geometry and you will likely get a soliloquy on why both are useless and they will never use them and just do not understand why they have to take either.

In a survival situation, however, understanding the Pythagorean Theorem is one very easy way of accurately measuring the distance between two points.

This is one of those hacks that almost anyone can master, even if they do not fully understand why it works.

If you were looking to ford a river, stream or even a small ravine, it makes your job a lot easier than attempting it by trial and error.

The accuracy depends on your ability to walk those 40 paces in a straight line, but if done correctly, this estimate is accurate to within a few feet because, math!