Question

there is rope running from the top of a flag pole to a hook in the ground. The flagpole is 9 meters high, the hook is 12 meters from it's base, and the rope is_______ meters long

Answer 1

The rope is 15 meters long

Explanation:

Below is a sketch of the situation

Now, the Pythagorean theorem says that if we have a right triangle of side lengths a and b then the hypotenuse is given by

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

Now, in our case, the rope, the pole, and the distance to the hook forms a right triangle; therefore, the length of the rope is given by

`12^2+9^2=c^2`