Question

You help your dad build a dog house for your dog. You tell him that it would be easy to build a dog house in the shape of a tent. The slanted sides are 5 feet long and the bottom of the house is 8 feet across. You draw him the following illustration to help him find the height of the dog house. What do you tell him the height of the dog house is?

Answer 1

3 feet tall
If it is in the shape of a tent and the floor is 8 feet across half of it cut down the middle would be 4 ft, you create a right triangle and can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for the height. 5 is the hypotenuse and 4 is a leg.
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
Plug in the values known
4^2 +b^2 = 5^2
simplify
16+b^2=25
subtract 16 from both sides
b^2=9
take the square root of both sides
b=3 the hight is 3 ft