Question

You are standing 15 feet from 25-foot tall tree. Estimate the distance (in feet) from where you are standing to the top of the tree. Round your answer to the nearest tenth

Answer 1

Answer:
`29.2\ ft` approximately.

Explanation:

Draw a right triangle as the one attached, where "x" is the distance in feet from where you are standing to the top of the tree.

For this exercise you need to use the Pythagorean Theorem:

`a^2=b^2+c^2`

Where "a" is the hypotenuse, and "b" and "c" are the legs of the triangle.

In this case you must find the hypotenuse, then you can say that:

`a=x\\b=15\ ft\\c=25\ ft`

Susbstitute values into
`a^2=b^2+c^2`:

`x^2=(15\ ft)^2+(25\ ft)^2`

Now you must solve for "x":

`x=√((15\ ft)^2+(25\ ft)^2)\\\\x=5√(34)`

Rounding to the nearest tenth, you get that:

`x\approx29.2\ ft`