An electric pole has a support cable that is attached to the pole 20ft from the ground. The cable is anchored on the ground 10ft from the base of the pole. How long is the cable? round to the neartest tenth
17.3
22.4
300
500
To find the length of the cable, we can use the Pythagorean theorem.
Let's denote the length of the cable as x.
The height of the pole forms one side of a right triangle with the ground, and the support cable forms another side. The cable is attached to the pole 20ft from the ground, so this side of the triangle has a length of 20ft.
The cable is anchored on the ground 10ft from the base of the pole, so the distance from the base of the pole to the anchor point also forms a side of the triangle, with a length of 10ft.
The third side of the triangle, which is the length of the cable, can be found using the Pythagorean theorem:
x^2 = 20^2 + 10^2
x^2 = 400 + 100
x^2 = 500
x ≈ 22.4
Therefore, the length of the cable is approximately 22.4ft.
The closest answer choice is 22.4.