Can someone please help me with this word problem question please:

Question

A guy wire for a suspension bridge runs from the ground diagonally to the top of the closest pylon to make a triangle. We can use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of guy wire needed. The square of the distance between the wire on the ground and the pylon on the ground is 90,000 feet. The square of the height of the pylon is 160,000 feet. So the length of the guy wire can be found by evaluating √— 90,000 + 160,000 . What is the length of the guy wire?

Answer 1

The Pythagorean Theorem works for this "right triangle" problem

a = base of right triangle (distance from guy wire on ground to pylon on the ground)

b = height (of pylon)

c = hypotenuse (side opposite the right angle, the longest of the 3 sides, in this case c = guy wire)

a squared = 90,000

b squared = 160,000

90,000 + 160,000 = c² (length of guy wire²)

250,000 = c²

^{Take the square root of both sides}

500 = c

Guy wire length = 500 ft.