We know from historical records that the Great Pyramid of Giza was originally about 147 m tall. Assuming it was built with its faces at 52 degrees inclines, what was the original length of one side of its base? Round your answer to the nearest meter

1 answer

To answer this question, we can use trigonometry. Since the pyramid has four faces at 52-degree inclines, we can draw a triangle with one of those faces as the hypotenuse, one-half of the base as the adjacent side, and the height of the pyramid as the opposite side.

Using the trigonometric function tangent, we can set up the following equation:

tan(52) = height / (base / 2)

Rearranging the equation, we can solve for the base:

base = 2 * height / tan(52)

Plugging in the given height of 147 m and solving for the base:

base = 2 * 147 / tan(52) ≈ 186.48

Therefore, the original length of one side of the pyramid's base was about 186 meters. Rounded to the nearest meter, the answer is 186 meters.