A flagpole broke in a storm. It was originally 81 feet tall. 28 feet are still sticking straight out of the ground, where it snapped, but the remaining piece has hinged over and touches the ground some distance away. How far away is the end of the pole from the base of the pole along the ground?

Question

Mathematics

Dylan Murphy

11 August, 05:27

A flagpole broke in a storm. It was originally 81 feet tall. 28 feet are still sticking straight out of the ground, where it snapped, but the remaining piece has hinged over and touches the ground some distance away. How far away is the end of the pole from the base of the pole along the ground?

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Answers (1)

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Braylon Garner · Answer 1

Hidden right triangle

28 feet tall (1 leg)

the piece that fell over is the hypotonuse

last leg is what we need to find

81-28=53

a²+b²=c²

a and b are legs and c is the hypotonuse

given

on leg is 28 and the hypotonuse is 53

th othe leg is b

28²+b²=53²

784+b²=2809

minus 784 from both sides

b²=2025

sqrt both sides

b=45

answer is 45ft