Raymond was riding a zip-cable from the top of a viewing post. The cable is 70 yards long. The viewing post is 56 yards high and
forms a right angle with the ground, as shown in the picture below. Note: Figure is not drawn to scale. Given this information, how far is the bottom of the cable from the base of the viewing post? A. 84 yards B. 28 yards C. 42 yards D. 56 yards
You may recognize this as a 3-4-5 right triangle with a scale factor of 14. The two given sides are 5·14 = 70 and 4·14 = 56. Then the missing side is 3·14 = 42.
If not, you can use the Pythagorean theorem in the usual way:
... hypotenuse² = leg1² +leg2²
... 70² = 56² +leg2²
... leg2 = √(70² -56²) = √1764 = 42 . . . . yards
The cable is anchored 42 yards from the base of the tower.
