Question

Erin is flying a kite. She knows that 260 feet of the kite

string has been let out. Also, a friend is 240 feet away
and standing directly underneath the kite. How high off
the ground is the kite?

Answer 1

Explanation:

This is classic right triangle stuff. The length of the hypotenuse is the amount of string she has let out, 260. The base of the triangle is the distance the friend is away from her, 240. We will use Pythagorean's Theorem to find the length of the other leg (also known as the height of the triangle...the distance the kite is from the ground).

260² = 240² + h² where h is the height of the kite.

260² - 240² = h² and

10,000 = h² so

h = √10,000 which is

h = 100 feet