Question

A shipping company uses an inclined conveyor belt to load or unload packages. The dock is 15 feet above ground. The base of the conveyor belt is 40 feet from the dock. What is the length the conveyor belt?

Answer 1

Hey there! :D

Think of this like a triangle. The dock is 15 feet above ground. It is the side of the triangle. The line connecting the bottom of the dock to the base of the conveyor belt is 40 feet. This is like the base. 

The conveyor belt itself is at a diagonal, and should be the hypotenuse. 

Use the Pythagorean theorem. 

a^2+b^2=c^2

15^2+40^2= c^2 

225+1,600= c^2

Add the values together. 

1,825= c^2

Find the square root of 1,825. 

c= 42.7 (rounded to the nearest tenth) 

The conveyor belt is 42.7 feet long.

I hope this helps!
~kaikers