A cable 39 m long runs from the top of a utility pole to a point on the ground 24 m from the base of the pole. How tall is the utility pole, to the nearest tenth of a meter?

Answer 1

This is an example of the Pythagorean Theorem, where we're given a leg and hypotenuse, and need to find the other leg:

a² + b² = c²

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| \ 39m

| \

| \

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24m

a² + 24² = 39²

a² + 576 = 1521

subtract:

a² = 945

√a² = √945

a = 30.7408......

a = 30.7 meters