A circus tent is in the shape of a square pyramid. Each edge of the square base is 20 m and its slant height is 13.5 m. Find the height of the tent. Round the answer to the nearest tenth.

Answer 1

The slant height of the pyramid forms a right triangle with half of a side of the square base and the height of the pyramid.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can find the height.
Let h be the height of the pyramid. Then, we have the equation h^2 + (1/2 * 20)^2 = 13.5^2.
This simplifies to h^2 + 100 = 182.25.
Subtracting 100 from both sides gives us h^2 = 82.25.
Taking the square root of both sides gives us h ≈ 9.1 m.
Therefore, the height of the tent is approximately 9.1 meters. Answer: \boxed{9.1}.