Riddle Me This
This is for all the *Mathies* out there.
A 10 foot bamboo stem breaks during a high wind, the top part of the break falls so that it's tip rests on the ground 3 feet from the base of the stem (forming a triangle). At what height on the stem did the break occur? Hint: use pythagorean theorem.This totally has me stumped as my math skillz are ( Read more... )
A 10 foot bamboo stem breaks during a high wind, the top part of the break falls so that it's tip rests on the ground 3 feet from the base of the stem (forming a triangle). At what height on the stem did the break occur? Hint: use pythagorean theorem.This totally has me stumped as my math skillz are ( Read more... )
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If it broke at 6.75ft and the bamboo was 10 ft tall then
6.75ft + Hft = 10ft right?
Pythagorean theorum says that H, the Hypoteneuse (long diagonal side) of a triangle squared = sum of the other tow sides squared so...
H^2 = X^2 + Y^2
But we have one side (the one on the ground that is 3ft) so
H^2 = 9ft + Y^2
If H = 6.745ft... then the fact that its broken piece adds onto it to make 10 means the broken piece is 3.255ft
But the Pythagorean theorum tells us
6.745^2 = 9 + 3.255^2
45.495025 ?= 19.595025
No... The height of 6.745 is too high.
*** But what if the height were 4.55ft? ***
then the broken piece is 5.45ft
4.55ft + 5.45ft = 10ft
5.45^2 = 9 + 4.55^2
29.7025ft = 29.7025ft which shows 4.55ft is the correct value!
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