Question

flagpole of height 5 meters is tied to the ground by a 7 meter cable. How far from the base of the flagpole is the cable tied

Answer 1

We know that

• The height is 5 meters.

,

• The cable is 7 meters long.

Using the given information, we can represent the situation with a diagram.

In the diagram above you can observe that the x is a leg of the right triangle. So, we have to use Pythagorean's Theorem to find x.

`7^2=5^2+x^2`

Then, we solve for x.

`\begin{gathered} 49=25+x^2 \\ x^2=49-25 \\ x^2=24 \\ x=\sqrt[]{24} \\ x\approx4.9 \end{gathered}`

Hence, the base of the flagpole is 4.9 meters from the cable, approximately.