Question

Alexandra is fishing from a small boat. A fish swimming at the same depth as the hook

at the end of her fishing line is 5 meters away from the hook. If Alexandra is 13 meters away
from the fish, how far below Alexandra is the hook?

Answer 1

12 m

Explanation:

Here's a picture to show the problem.

boat

--------------------------------------------

~~~~~~~~~~~\ /~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

\-----------Alexandra ---------/ surface of the water

|\

| \

| \

| \

d | \ 13 m

| \

| \

| \

| --- rt < \

hook -----|------------------------------ fish

5 m

There is a right angle at the hook. We have a right triangle with leg d, the distance we need to find, leg 5 m, and hypotenuse 13 m.

a² + b² = c²

5² + b² = 13²

25 + b² = 169

b² = 144

b = √144

b = 12

Answer: 12 m