Question

Joel is laying pipe for a sprinkler system before he plants his lawn. The lawn is a rectangle, 15 feet long and 8 feet wide. He needs to lay a piece of pipe that will be run along the diagonal of the lawn. It will divide the area of the lawn into two right triangles. What will be the length of that diagonal piece of pipe?

Answer 1

Hey!

So, we will have to use the Pythagorean Theorem in order to find the length of the pipe that will be run along the diagonal of the lawn. So, this theorem states that,
$a^2+b^2=c^2$
Let's plug in the values.
$15^2+8^2=c^2$
Simplify.
$289=c^2$
Let's take the square root.
$\sqrt{289} = \sqrt{c^2}$
Simplify.
$17 ft=c$

This tells us that the length of the diagonal piece of pipe will be 17 feet. 

Thanks!
-TetraFish

Answer 2

Using Pythagorean Theorem, you can find that the diagonal pipe would have to be 17 feet long to bisect the yard. sqrt(8^2+15^2)=17