Question 1175081
A rope is tightly around two pulleys. What is the distance between the centers of the pulleys if the radii of the bigger and smaller pulleys are 10cm and 6 cm, respectively, and the portion of the rope tangent to the pulleys is 50cm long?
<pre>*[illustration ADC_1175081_1.png].
Let distance between centers of pulleys be D
Then BC is also, D
We then get: {{{matrix(2,3, (BC)^2, "=", (AB)^2  -  (AC)^2, (BC)^2, "=", 50^2 - 4^2)}}} 
Distance between the centers of the pulleys, or {{{highlight_green(matrix(1,8, "D/BCD", "=", sqrt(50^2 - 4^2), "=", "49.83974318,", or, 49.84, cm))}}}

Tutor @IKLEYN is CORRECT. Her solution is CORRECT, and mine is NOT. Follow HERS!