SOLUTION: a 20 ft pole is supported by two wires that extend from the top of the pole to points that are 15 feet from the base of the pole. find the total length of the two wires?

Question 803327: a 20 ft pole is supported by two wires that extend from the top of the pole to points that are 15 feet from the base of the pole. find the total length of the two wires?
Answer by KMST(5328) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
There are two right triangles formed by the horizontal ground, the sides of the pole and the wire.
Each triangle has leg lengths of 15 feet and 20 feet.
You can use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate the length of the hypotenuse, and that would be the half of the wire length used to one side of the pole.
I don't like those calculations, so I will use a similar triangle that I know and love.
Those large triangles are scaled-up larger cousins (similar) to the 3:4:5 right triangle that teacher like to use in problems:
In the large triangles, all lengths are 5 times larger, so the hypotenuse measures feet, and the total length of wire is .
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