Question

children climb 8 ft to get to the top of a slide. the end of the slide is 1 ft above the ground and the slide rises at a 45 degree angle. if the slide makes a straight line from the top to the bottom, how far does the child travel down the slide?

Answer 1

Since the end of the slide is 1 foot above the ground, the vertical rise of the 
slide is 8 - 1 = 7 feet, and since the slide rises at a 45 degree angle it will 
have a horizontal run of 7 feet as well. Thus by Pythagoras the length of the 
slide is sqrt(7^2 + 7^2) = sqrt(98) = 9.90 feet, which is about 10 feet.