Lenny is planning to climb Meatloaf Mountain which is the shape of a triangle below. If its maximum elevation is 1,282 feet and its steepness is 13,262.1 feet, what is the width of the entire mountain? Round the answer to nearest whole number.

Question

How I wanted to solve it was using the Pythagorean theorem. 1,282=a^2. The hypotenuse (c^2)=13,262.1. I have to square both of these. And subtract. I ended up with 13,200 ft (rounded to the nearest whole number). But I am pretty sure this is not right because are teacher let us get help for fixing our quiz (quiz corrections), and she marked 13,200 ft wrong. Please help me.

Answer 1

You are correct in your approach.
a^2 + 1282^2 = 13262.1^2
a = 13200
But that is only 1/2 the total width. There is another 13200 on the other side of the mountain.
Always read the question carefully to make sure that your results answer what was asked!