SOLUTION: Please help me. I am having problem with this question. Anne is pulling on a 60-foot rope attached to the top of a 48-foot tree while Walter is cutting the tree at its base. H

Question 99520: Please help me. I am having problem with this question.
Anne is pulling on a 60-foot rope attached to the top of a 48-foot tree while Walter is cutting the tree at its base. How far from the base of the tree is Anne standing?
Thank you
Answer by timmy1729(23) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Ahh. This is a simple application of the Pythagorean Theorem! Think of the rope that Anne is pulling on as the hypotenuse since she is standing away from the tree and the rope is attached to the top of the tree and the problem said that the rope is longer than the tree's height. Then, think of the height of the tree as a side of a right triangle.
__|\
__|_\
48|__\_60
__|___\
__|____\
____x
Let's call x the distance that Anne is from the tree. The theorem is
so in our case and .
So & .
Then
so
Then so Anne is standing 36ft from the tree.
Also, if you notice, 48 and 60 are multiples of 12. If you divide them by 12 you get 4 and 5. That follows special triangles with sides called Pythagorean Triples. One of them is 3,4,5. So if you can notice a right triangle as having two of those sides, you can immediately know what the third side is. But, remember always show your work to get full credit in class ;-)
RELATED QUESTIONS
I need help solving the following word problem: Anne is pulling on a 60-foot rope... (answered by bucky)

Anne is pulling on a 60-foot rope attached to the top of a 48-foot tree while Walter is... (answered by orca)

On my worksheet it says Radicals and Rational Exponent/Complex Numbers Anne is pulling... (answered by kamallohia)

Ann is pulling on a 60-foot rope attached to the top of a 48-foot tree while Walter is... (answered by checkley71)

Hi! I'm having trouble with this question Dan Perkin's goat is attached to the... (answered by mananth)

If a 120 foot rope was attached to the top of a 36 foot pole, how far from the base of... (answered by mananth)

Please help me solve this problem. A guy wire whose grounded end is 11 ft from... (answered by mananth)

Can you please help me with this problem. I need to solve for the following angle. This... (answered by tutor_paul,bucky)

A 12 foot rope attached to the top of the mast of a sailboat is fastened to a point on... (answered by nerdybill)