SOLUTION: Hello, I'm stuck on this question of my homework:
Two vertical poles 8m and 3m high stand 12 m apart. Determine the distance between the tops of the poles.
We are supposed to use
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-> SOLUTION: Hello, I'm stuck on this question of my homework:
Two vertical poles 8m and 3m high stand 12 m apart. Determine the distance between the tops of the poles.
We are supposed to use
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Question 426264: Hello, I'm stuck on this question of my homework:
Two vertical poles 8m and 3m high stand 12 m apart. Determine the distance between the tops of the poles.
We are supposed to use the formula: a²+b²=c² and maybe some other formulas.
We are learning about right angle triangles.
I hope this makes sense, Thanks.
The 8 meter pole is 5 meters taller than the 3 meter pole, so you have a right triangle that has a long leg measuring 12 meters (the horizontal distance between the poles) and a short leg measuring 5 meters (the difference in the heights), and a hypotenuse that represents the straight line distance between the tops of the two poles, the measure of which is the answer to this problem.
You can do one of two things at this point.
You can do the arithmetic:
or you can simply recognize that 5 and 12 are the two smaller numbers of the Pythagorean Triple 5-12-13, and get the answer directly.
John
My calculator said it, I believe it, that settles it
