SOLUTION: A balloon is secured to rope that is staked to the ground. A breeze blows the balloon so the the rope is taut while the balloon is directly above a flag pole that is 70 feet from

Question 360227: A balloon is secured to rope that is staked to the ground. A breeze blows the balloon so the the rope is taut while the balloon is directly above a flag pole that is 70 feet from where the rope is staked down. Find the altitude of the balloon if the rope is 120 feet long.
Answer by JBarnum(2146) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
this is actually a geometry problem using the Pythagorean Theorem
the rope pulled tight over the pole makes a triangle with the ground. the base of ground is 70ft the hypotenuse in this case is the length of the rope at 120 ft so the missing side is the length of the pole
a and b represent the 2 smaller sides and c represents the hypotenuse
a=70 b=? and c=120

ft

RELATED QUESTIONS
a balloon is secured to rope that is staked to the ground. A breeze blows the ballon so... (answered by Alan3354)

a balloon is tied to a rope the is in the ground. a breeze blows the balloon so that rope (answered by mananth)

A hot air balloon is to be attached to the ground using two support ropes. One support is (answered by mananth)

Suppose a rope is to be strung from the tops of two posts of heights 10 feet and 8 feet... (answered by venugopalramana)

Suppose a rope is to be strung form the top of two post of hights of 10 and 8 feet that... (answered by checkley71)

a tree needs to be staked down prior to a storm. if the ropes can be tied on the tree... (answered by fractalier)

1. A bell rope, passing through the ceiling above, just barely reaches the belfry floor.... (answered by jim_thompson5910)

A hot-air balloon is held at a constant altitude by two ropes that are anchored to the... (answered by josgarithmetic,MathTherapy)