A 10 ft slide is attached to a deck that is 5 ft high. Find the nearest distance from the bottom of the deck to the bottom of the slide to the nearest tenth.

Question

1. Draw a picture. What triangle is formed by this picture? (I think right. I don't have graph paper with me right now.)

2. Is the unknown length a leg or hypotenuse of the triangle?

3. Mason is on the southwest corner of a 90° intersection. One street in the intersection is 23 feet wide. If Mason crosses diagonally to the northeast corner, he will walk 34 feet. Find the width of the other street. If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth.

Thank you in advance! I was absent when this was taught, plus, I can't wrap my head around it. :))

Answer 1

1. We have a rt. triangle:
X = ? = Hor. leg.
Y = 5 Ft. = Ver. leg.
r = 10 Ft. = hyp.
x^2 + y^2 = r^2.
x^2 + 5^2 = 10^2,

Answer 2

a^2 + b^2 = c^2
a^2 + 5^2 = 10^2
a^2 + 25 = 100
- 25 -25
______________
a^2 = 75 find square root
a = about 8.6
or
a = square root of 75.