Question

A telephone pole breaks and falls as shown. To the nearest foot, what is the value of x, if the original height of the pole is 15 ft?

A. 10 ft
B. 9 ft
C. 7 ft
D. 5 ft

{Please help ASAP!!}

Answer 1

8.66 feet or 5sqrt(3) feet

Explanation:

If the original length of the pole was 15ft and the unbroken section is 5ft, then the broken part (diagonal) has a length of 15-5 = 10ft

Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we can calculate the length of x:

a^2+b^2=c^2

5^2+b^2=10^2

25+b^2=100

b^2=75

b=sqrt(75)

b=5sqrt(3)

b=8.66

So the value of x is 8.66ft or 5sqrt(3)ft