SOLUTION: Please help. A flagpole has a height of 10 yards. it will supported by three cables, each of which is attached to the pole 4 yards below the top of the pole and attached to the gro

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Question 949814: Please help. A flagpole has a height of 10 yards. it will supported by three cables, each of which is attached to the pole 4 yards below the top of the pole and attached to the ground at a point that is 8 yards from the base of the pole. find the total number of yards of cable that will be required.
Answer by macston(5194) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Each cable is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with one leg 6yds(4 yd from top of 10 yd pole) and the other leg 8 yd (distance from base of pole)
c=length of cable; b=distance from base of pole; a=distance up pole
c%5E2=a%5E2%2Bb%5E2
c%5E2=%286+yds%29%5E2%2B%288+yds%29%5E2
c%5E2=%2836+sq+yds%2B64+sq+yds%29
c%5E2=100+sq+yds find square root of each side.
c=10+yds
ANSWER: The length of one cable is 10 yards, and since there are three cables,a total of 30 yards of cable will be needed.