A 30-foot cable is suspended between the tops of two 20-foot poles on level
ground. The lowest point of the cable is 5 feet above the ground. What is the
distance between the two poles?
the poles are adjacent to each other si distance between them is 0
To find the distance between the two poles, we can use the Pythagorean theorem.
The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right triangle, the square of the length 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 two poles and the cable form a right triangle. Let's label the distance between the two poles as x.
One side of the right triangle is the height of one of the poles, which is 20 feet.
The other side of the right triangle is the distance from the top of one pole to the lowest point of the cable, which is 20 - 5 = 15 feet.
Now we can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for x:
x^2 = 20^2 + 15^2
x^2 = 400 + 225
x^2 = 625
Taking the square root of both sides, we find:
x = sqrt(625)
x = 25
Therefore, the distance between the two poles is 25 feet.