Question

A flying squirrel's nest is 60 feet high in a tree. From its nest, the flying squirrel glides 68 feet to reach an acorn that is on the ground. How far is the acorn from the base of the tree?

Answer 1

The acorn is 32 feet from the base of the tree.

Explanation:

This is an problem where the Pythagorean Theroem.

The formula is
`a^2+b^2=c^2` where a & b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse.

In this problem, we are given the height, which is a and the hypotenuse, which the flying squirrel glides, which is c.

We can substitute the values and solve for b which is the distance from the base to the acorn.

The new equation would be
`60^2+b^2=68^2`

We can simplify the exponents and we get:
`3600+b^2=4624`.

Now, we have to solve for b.

1. Subtract 3600 on both sides:
`b^2=1024`

2. Take the square root of both sides:
`√(b^2) =√(1024)`

3. Since the exponent and the radical cancel each other, we are left with just b. The square root fo 1024 is 32, which is the value of b.

So the distance from the acorn to the base of the tree is 32 feet.

Answer 2

the acorn is 32 feet from the base of the tree.