Kelly is building a kite. She has a rectangular piece of cloth that is 5 inches wide and 13 inches long. She needs to place a stick on the diagonal of the rectangle to make her kite. How long of a stick does she need? Round to the nearest tenth of an inch.

Question

Kelly is building a kite.  She has a rectangular piece of cloth that is 5 inches wide and 13 inches long.  She needs to place a stick on the diagonal of the rectangle to make her kite.  How long of a stick does she need?  Round to the nearest tenth of an inch.

anonymous · Answer

THe diagonal of a rectangle is the hypotenuese of the two sides.  so your sides are 5 and 13.

Use the pythagorean theorem again$$a^{2}+b^{2}=c^{2}=5^{2}+13^{2}=c^{2}$$to find the answer.