Question

a newly planted tree needs to be staked with three wires. Each wire is attached to the trunk 3ft. above the ground, and then anchored to the ground 4ft. from the base of the tree. how much wire is needed for 6 trees?

Answer 1

90 feet of wire because 3 squared is 9 and 4 squared is 16 so 16+9=25 and the square root of 25 is 5 and 5*3=15 so that is 15 feet for one tree so 15*6=90

Answer 2

The correct answer is:

90 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

Each wire forms a right triangle with the tree and the ground. The height from the ground to the point on the tree the wire is attached to, 3 feet, is one leg. The length from the tree to where the wire is staked in the ground, 4 feet, is the other leg.

We use the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse: 3²+4²=c²; 9+16=c²; 25=c²; √25=√(c²); 5=c

This means each wire will be 5 feet long. There are 3 wires per tree, which gives us 5*3 = 15 feet. There are 6 tree, so this is 15*6 = 90 feet of wire.