Question

You are standing in front of a flagpole. The

distance from your feet to the base of the
pole is 17 feet, and the height of the pole
is 9 feet. Determine the distance from
your feet to the top of the pole to the
nearest hundredth of a foot.
K
9
m=9 ft
M
k 17 ft.

Answer 1

19.24 feet

Explanation:

The line from your feet to the pole is one side of a triangle, 17 feet long. The pole itself is another side, 9 feet long, at a 90 ° angle to the ground. So these two sides are the legs (shorter two sides) of a right triangle. The line from your feet to the top of the pole is the third side of the triangle. It is also the side opposite the 90° angle between the ground and the pole, so it is the hypotenuse of a right triangle.

Since it is a right triangle, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem:

c² = a² + b², so

'c' is the distance from your feet to the pole, the hypotenuse of the right triangle.

c² = 17² + 9² = 289 + 81 = 370

c² = 370

c = SQR ROOT OF (370)

c ≈ 19.23538406...

So, rounding to hundredths, c is approx. 19.24 feet