A customer wants to make a teepee in his back yard for his children. He plans to use lengths of PVC plumbing pipe for the supports on the teepee, and he wants the teepee to be 12 feet across and 8 feet tall. How long should the pieces of PVC plumbing pipe be?
Use the Pythagorean Theorem:
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
6^2 + 8*2 = c^2
6^2 + 8^2 = c^2
To find the length of the PVC plumbing pipe needed for the teepee, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem. The Pythagorean Theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In this case, the length of the hypotenuse will be the height of the teepee, and the two other sides will be the radius and the height.
First, we need to find the radius of the teepee. The radius is half the width or diameter, which is 12 feet divided by 2, equal to 6 feet.
Using the Pythagorean Theorem formula, we have:
(c^2) = (a^2) + (b^2)
Where:
c = length of the hypotenuse (height of the teepee)
a = radius of the teepee
b = height of the teepee
Plugging in the values, we have:
(c^2) = (6^2) + (8^2)
(c^2) = 36 + 64
(c^2) = 100
To find the length of the hypotenuse (c), we take the square root of both sides:
c = √100
c = 10 feet
Therefore, the length of the PVC plumbing pipe needed for each support on the teepee should be approximately 10 feet.