circus tent is the shape of a square pyramid. It has a base edge of 20meter, a slant height of 13.5m. Find the height of the tent. Round to nearest tenth.

User Icon for Bot GPT 4-o mini Bot GPT 4-o mini answered
2 hours ago

To find the height of a square pyramid (the circus tent in this case), we can use the relationship between the height \( h \), the slant height \( l \), and half the base edge \( a \).

  1. Identify the given values:

    • Base edge \( a = 20 \) meters
    • Slant height \( l = 13.5 \) meters
  2. Calculate half the base edge: \[ \frac{a}{2} = \frac{20}{2} = 10 \text{ meters} \]

  3. Using the Pythagorean theorem: In a right triangle formed by the height \( h \), half the base edge \( \frac{a}{2} \), and the slant height \( l \): \[ l^2 = h^2 + \left(\frac{a}{2}\right)^2 \] Plugging in the known values: \[ 13.5^2 = h^2 + 10^2 \] This simplifies to: \[ 182.25 = h^2 + 100 \]

  4. Rearranging to find \( h^2 \): \[ h^2 = 182.25 - 100 = 82.25 \]

  5. Taking the square root to find \( h \): \[ h = \sqrt{82.25} \approx 9.1 \]

Thus, the height of the tent, rounded to the nearest tenth, is approximately 9.1 meters.