Question

Ryan is putting a clothesline in his rectangular backyard. He wants to put it between two trees on the edge of his property. He has measured his property, and made the sketch shown below, where all the lengths listed are in meters. What is the smallest length of rope that Ryan could buy which would stretch from one tree to the other?

Answer 1

25 meters of rope

Explanation:

If we use Pythagorean Theorem, a = 15, b = 20, c = x.

x^2 = 15^2 + 20^2

x = 25

Answer 2

• 25m

Explanation:

The first figure attached is the sketch of the property mentioned on the question, where all the lengths listed are in meters.

The second figure attached identifies a right triangle whose hypotenuse, c, is the smallest length that the clothesline can measure; and the legs measure 20m, and 20m - 10m = 15m.

Now, you can use the Pythagorean theorem to find the smallest length of the clothesline:

`c^2=(20m)^2+(15m)^2\\\\c^2=625m^2\\\\c=√(625m^2) \\\\c=25m\longleftarrow answer`