SOLUTION: I think this word problem belongs in this section - can picture the triangle in the word problem, but other than that I am stuck. Any help is greatly appreciated. Elizabeth is

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Question 240183: I think this word problem belongs in this section - can picture the triangle in the word problem, but other than that I am stuck. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Elizabeth is flying a kite. She let out 80 feet of string and attached the string to a stake in the ground. The kite is now directly above her brother Mike, who is 32 feet away from Elizabeth. Find the height of the kite to the nearest foot.
Answer by ankor@dixie-net.com(22740) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Elizabeth is flying a kite. She let out 80 feet of string and attached the string to a stake in the ground.
The kite is now directly above her brother Mike, who is 32 feet away from Elizabeth.
Find the height of the kite to the nearest foot.
:
This is right triangle problem a^2 + b^2 = c^2
:
one leg is the distance from E to mike, given as 32 ft (a)
the other leg is the height, the dist from Mike to the kite above him (b)
the hypotenuse (c) is the string length, given as 80 ft
:
32^2 + b^2 = 80^2
1024 + b^2 = 6400
b^2 = 6400 - 1024
b^2 = 5376
vb =
b = 73.32 ~ 73 ft
;
:
Check this on a calc: enter ~ 80