Question 156868
If you think in terms of a right triangle, you can "see" that the height of the triangle represents the height of the tepee (h = 8ft) and the base of the triangle is half the distance across the base of the tepee (12ft), so this would be 6 ft.
The PVC supports are represented by the hypotenuse of the right triangle, and we can call this c.
So, invoking the Pythagorean theorem:
{{{c^2 = a^2+b^2}}} where: a is the height (8ft), b is the base (6ft) and c is the length of the PVC support.
{{{c^2 = 8^2+6^2}}}
{{{c^2 = 64+36}}}
{{{c^2 = 100}}} Take the square root of both sides.
{{{c = 10}}} or {{{c = -10}}} Discard the negative solution as length is a positive quabntity.
The PVC supports are 10 feet long.