An electric pole has a support cable that is attached to the pole 20 ft. from the ground.
The cable is anchored on the ground 10 ft. from the base of the pole. How long is the cable? Round to the nearest tenth. (1 point)
• 500 ft.
• 17.3 ft.
O 22.4 ft.
• 300 ft.
To find the length of the cable, we can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (the longest side) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
In this case, the pole forms one side of the right triangle, the support cable forms the hypotenuse, and the ground forms the other side.
Using the given measurements, we have one side of the triangle as 20 ft, and the other side as 10 ft. Let's call the length of the cable "c".
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can express this relationship as:
c^2 = 20^2 + 10^2
c^2 = 400 + 100
c^2 = 500
To find the value of c, we can take the square root of both sides of the equation:
c = √500
c ≈ 22.4 ft
Therefore, the length of the cable is approximately 22.4 ft. The correct answer is 22.4 ft.