Question 216502
The tower and the distance along the ground from base of tower to brace are the legs of a right triangle, and the length of the brace is the hypotenuse. You can thus use the pythagorean theorem to solve this. Let x be the length of the brace.
{{{(20.5-4.5)^2+8^2=x^2}}}
{{{x^2=16^2+8^2}}}
{{{x^2=256+64}}}
{{{x^2=320}}}
Take the square root of both sides; consider only the positive result:
{{{x=sqrt(320)}}}
Simplify...
{{{highlight(x=8sqrt(5))}}}
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Good Luck,
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