SOLUTION: A piece of wire measuring 20 feet is attached to a pole as a guy wire. The distance along the ground from the bottom of the pole to the end of the wire is 4 feet greater than the h

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Question 288956: A piece of wire measuring 20 feet is attached to a pole as a guy wire. The distance along the ground from the bottom of the pole to the end of the wire is 4 feet greater than the height where the wire is attached to the pole. How far up the pole does the guy wire reach?
Answer by mananth(16946) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
let the height at which the wire is attached to the pole be x
Distance along ground from wire to base of pole = x+4
The length of the wire is 20 feet
using the pythagoras theorem
x^2+(x+4)^2 = 20^2
x^2+x^2+8x+16=400
2x^2+8x-384=0
x^2 +4x-192=0
x^2 +16x-12x-192=0
x(x+16)-12(x+16)=0
(x+16)(x-12)=0
x=12
12 feet from the bottom of the pole