Melissa has a gerbil that lives in a cage in the shape of a rectangular prism. She wants to put a ramp in the cage to give her gerbil exercise The cage has a length of 70 cm, a width of 35 cm, and a height of 50 cm. How long does the ramp need to be to fit diagonally in the cage? Round the answer to the nearest tenth (1 point)

Answer 1

To find the length of the ramp needed to fit diagonally in the cage, we can use the Pythagorean theorem which states:

a² + b² = c²

Where:
a = length of the cage (70 cm)
b = width of the cage (35 cm)
c = length of the ramp

Plugging in the values:

70² + 35² = c²
4900 + 1225 = c²
6125 = c²
c = √6125
c ≈ 78.3 cm

Therefore, the ramp needs to be approximately 78.3 cm long to fit diagonally in the cage.