SOLUTION: A dead tree was struck by lightning, causing it to fall over at a point 14 feet up from the base of the tree. If the original height of the tree was approximately 31 feet, what is

Question 366342: A dead tree was struck by lightning, causing it to fall over at a point 14 feet up from the base of the tree. If the original height of the tree was approximately 31 feet, what is the distance (along the ground) from the top of the tree to the base of the trunk?
Found 2 solutions by robertb, mananth:
Answer by robertb(5830) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
By application of the Pythagorean theorem, the distance from the top of the tree to the base of the trunk is feet, to two decimal places.
Answer by mananth(16946) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A dead tree was struck by lightning, causing it to fall over at a point 14 feet up from the base of the tree. If the original height of the tree was approximately 31 feet, what is the distance (along the ground) from the top of the tree to the base of the trunk?
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the part of tree standing erect = 31-14=17 feet
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the top of tree touches the ground at a distance x from the base of tree
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they form a right triangle.the broken part is the hypotenuse of the triangle
height remaining is one leg
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17^2-14^2= distance from ground ^2
289-196=93
sqrt 93 =9.64 feet from the ground.
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m.ananth@hotmail.ca
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