Question

A pole vault stick is leaning against a wall, touching the wall 16 ft above the ground. The bottom end of the stick is 12 ft from the wall. How many feet long is the stick?

Answer 1

20ft

Explanation:

Height from the ground=16ft

distance from wall= 12ft

length of the stick=?

According to the Pythagoras theorem the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the opposite sides.

Here the stick is the hypotenuse.

`12^(2) +16^(2) = x^(2)`

144+ 256=
`x^(2)`

`x^(2)`= 400

`x=√(400) \\x= 20`

Hence the length of the stick is 20ft.

Hope this helps.