President Obama has set up a slide for his young children so they( and he) can slide into the pool behind the White House. The White House staff puts the bottom of the slide ( Which is flat for 2m) at the rim of the window sill which is 10m above the ground. Given that the pool is 15m from the base of the White house, how tall must the entrances to the slide be?
That would seem to depend upon the height of the tallest person using the slide.
Do you really mean "how tall"? Or do you mean "How high above pool level?"
how high above pool level
To determine the height of the entrances to the slide, we can use the concept of right triangles and apply the Pythagorean theorem.
Let's create a diagram to visualize the situation:
A
|\
| \
| \
| \
| \ P
|_____\_____O______________________
C B
A: Height of the entrances to the slide (what we need to find)
B: Top of the window sill (10m)
C: Ground level (0m)
P: Pool (15m)
Based on the diagram, we can see that triangle ABC is a right triangle. So, we can use the Pythagorean theorem:
AB² = AC² + BC²
Since AC = 10m and BC = 15m, we plug those values into the equation:
AB² = 10² + 15²
AB² = 100 + 225
AB² = 325
Next, we take the square root of both sides to solve for AB:
√(AB²) = √325
AB = √325
AB ≈ 18.03
Therefore, the entrances to the slide should be approximately 18.03 meters tall.