Question

A pole 11 feet tall is used to support a guy wire for a tower, which runs from the tower to a metal stake in the ground. After placing the pole, Jayden measures the distance from the pole to the stake and from the pole to the tower, as shown in the diagram below. Find the length of the guy wire, to the nearest foot. 11 ft 20 ft-8 ft​

Answer 1

Answer:

48 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

Here, we want to find the length of the wire

from the diagram, we can identify two similar triangles

The smaller one and a bigger one

Mathematically, when two triangles are similar, the ratio of their corresponding sides are equal

We can start by getting the height of the tower

we have this as:

8/11 = 28/x

8 * x = 28 * 11

8x = 308

x = 308/8

x = 38.5 ft

So as we can see, the wire represents the hypotenuse of the larger triangle that measures 28 ft base and 38.5 ft height

So we can use the Pythagoras’ theorem to get the hypotenuse

Let us call this g

mathematically according to the theorem, the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the squares of the two other sides

thus, we have it that;

g^2 = 38.5^2 + 28^2

g^2 = 2,266.25

g = √2,266.25

g = 47.61 which is approximately 48 ft