Question

A 5–foot string of lights will be attached to the top of a 4–foot pole for a holiday display. How many feet from the base of the pole should the end of the string of lights be anchored?

Answer 1

Answer:

3

Step-by-step explanation:

The lights and pole form a right triangle. The question gives the hypotenuse as 5 and one side length as 4.

Use the Pythagorean theorem: $a^2+b^2=c^2$.

Plug in what you are given: $4^2+b^2=5^2$

$16+b^2=25$

$b^2=9$

b = 3

Or you could recognize that it was a pythagorean triple: 3, 4, 5