SOLUTION: Hello, I have a question on the below problem. Would I use the equation a^2 + b^2 = c^2 for this problem? If so would the answer be: 12^2 + 8^2 = C^2 c = 14.42 (the piec

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Question 173050: Hello,

I have a question on the below problem. Would I use the equation a^2 + b^2 = c^2 for this problem? If so would the answer be:

12^2 + 8^2 = C^2
c = 14.42 (the pieces should be 14.42 feet)

Q. A customer wants to make a teepee in his backyard for his children. He plans to use lengths of PVC plumbing pipe for the supports on the teepee, and he wants the teepee to be 12 feet across and 8 feet tall. How long should the pieces of PVC plumbing pipe be?

Answer by gonzo(654) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
NOTE:
correction to an earlier error has been made.
length of 4 has been changed to 6.
this is half the diameter of 12.
the outside poles should be 10 feet in length (not 8.9... as i said earlier)
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a teepee is a cone shaped architecture.
the floor layout is a circle.
the center of the circle houses the vertical pole.
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your problem states that the floor layout should be 12 feet across.
i take that to be the diameter of the circle.
your problem also states that the height of the teepee should be 8 feet high.
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a cross section of the conical shaped figure would look like an isosceles triangle.
the center pole would be the altitude of this isosceles triangle.
the altitude would split the triangle into 2 right triangles.
each right triangle would have a height of 8 feet and a base of 6 feet (1/2 the diameter of the circle).
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you are correct in that you would use a^2 + b^2 = c^2 to find the length of the diagonal poles.
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if a is the height and b is 1/2 the length of the diameter, then your formula becomes:
8^2 + 6^2 = c^2
64 + 36 = c^2
100 = c^2
c = = 10
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as a practical matter, you would want the poles to extend past this point at least a foot so that you could tie them together at the top.
this, however, is not part of your problem as far as i can tell, so your answer should be:
the center pole is 8 feet high.
the outside poles are 10 feet in length.
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i will have a diagram up on my website so you can see what i'm talking about.
it should be up there by 11:00 am eastern time if i don't run into problems.
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the website address is:
http://geocities.com/gonzo89p/
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look for:
173050 picture 1
173050 picture 2