The distance d is 9 ft and the height is 12ft.
<h3>How to find the distance and the height?</h3>
Here we can model the situation with a right triangle, where the length of the wire is the hypotenuse.
The height is one cathetus and the distance is the other catheti.
Let's define:
- h = height
- d = distance.
- hypotenuse = 15ft
We know that the height of the tower is 3 ft larger than the distance, then:
h = d + 3ft
Now we can use the Pythagorean theorem, it says that the sum of the squares of the cathetus is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.
Then:
Now we can solve this equation for d:
Then the solutions are:
We only take the positive solution:
d = (-3ft + 21ft)/2 = 9ft
And the height is 3 ft more than that, so:
h = 9ft + 3ft = 12ft
The distance d is 9 ft and the height is 12ft.
If you want to learn more about right triangles:
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