I am having trouble understanding this problem. Please help.

A customer wants to make a teepee in his backyard for his children. He plans to use lengths of PVC plumbing pipe for the supports on the teepee, and he wants the teepee to be 12 feet across and 8 feet tall (see figure). How long should the pieces of PVC plumbing pipe be?

To find the length of the PVC plumbing pipe needed for the teepee, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The Pythagorean theorem states that in a right-angled 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 triangle can be formed by half of the base of the teepee (6 feet), half of the height of the teepee (4 feet), and the length of the PVC pipe (which represents the hypotenuse).

We can calculate the length of the PVC pipe using the Pythagorean theorem:

Length of PVC pipe = sqrt((half of the base)^2 + (half of the height)^2)

Length of PVC pipe = sqrt((6 ft)^2 + (4 ft)^2)

Length of PVC pipe = sqrt(36 ft^2 + 16 ft^2)

Length of PVC pipe = sqrt(52 ft^2)

Length of PVC pipe ≈ 7.211 ft (rounded to three decimal places)

Therefore, the pieces of PVC plumbing pipe should be approximately 7.211 feet long to construct the teepee.