We know from historical records that the Great Pyramid of Giza was originally about 147 m tall. Assuming it was built with its faces at 52 degrees inclines, what was the original length of one side of its base? Round your answer to the nearest meter
To answer this question, we can use trigonometry. Since the pyramid has four faces at 52-degree inclines, we can draw a triangle with one of those faces as the hypotenuse, one-half of the base as the adjacent side, and the height of the pyramid as the opposite side.
Using the trigonometric function tangent, we can set up the following equation:
tan(52) = height / (base / 2)
Rearranging the equation, we can solve for the base:
base = 2 * height / tan(52)
Plugging in the given height of 147 m and solving for the base:
base = 2 * 147 / tan(52) ≈ 186.48
Therefore, the original length of one side of the pyramid's base was about 186 meters. Rounded to the nearest meter, the answer is 186 meters.