The locksmith is 37.9 kilometers west of the bank and 77.9 kilometers west of the garbage dump. The garbage dump is 128.6 kilometers east of the pet store. The pet store is 35.0 kilometers north of the hardware store. Which is closer to the pet store, the hardware store or the locksmith?

In this case, you need to determine the distance between the pet store and the locksmith to know if the distance is longer than the one from the pet store and the hardware (35 kilometers). Now this distance can be calculated by subtracting the distance from the locksmith to the garbage dump from the total distance between the pet store and the garbage dump. This is because the locksmith is between the pet store and the garbage, which means the distance between the pet store and the locksmith is a portion of the total distance, which is the distance from the pet store and the garbage dump. The process is shown below:

128.6 kilometers (distance from the garbage dump to the pet store) - 77.9 kilometers (distance from the garbage dump to the locksmith) = 50.7 (distance from the locksmith to the pet store

50.7 kilometers is greater than 35 kilometers, which means the hardware store is closer to the pet store