Guy wire. How long is a guy wire reaching from the top of a 24ft pole to a point on the ground 16 ft from the pole?
Thank you.
looks like a Pythagoras situation.
let the hypotenuse be c
c^2 = 16^2 + 24^2
I will let you finish it.
To find the length of the guy wire, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
In this case, the guy wire forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle, with one side being the height of the pole (24 ft) and the other side being the distance from the point on the ground to the pole (16 ft).
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can calculate the length of the guy wire:
Length of guy wire = √(height^2 + distance^2)
= √(24^2 + 16^2)
= √(576 + 256)
= √832
≈ 28.8 ft
Therefore, the length of the guy wire reaching from the top of the 24ft pole to a point on the ground 16ft from the pole is approximately 28.8 ft.