Question

A scuba diver has a taut rope connecting the dive boat to an anchor on the ocean floor. The rope is 140 feet long and the water is 40 feet deep. To the nearest tenth of a foot, how far is the anchor from a point directly below the boat?

Answer 1

Use Pythagorean Theorem and plug in the variables. The rope is the hypotenuse of the right triangle formed, and the 40ft water is the vertical leg, which leaves the ocean floor to be the horizontal leg.
\[a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}\]
\[a^{2}+40^{2}=140^{2}\]
Then solve for a.
\[a^{2}=18000\]
\[a=134.164\]

Answer 2

Thankyou. :)

Answer 3

just remember the rule a^2 + b^2 = c^2 :) which is in 90 degree triangles,