Question

Does no one really know this?

A 190 ft tower is located on the side of a mountain that is inclined 19° to the horizontal. A guy wire is to be attached to the top of the tower and anchored at a point 42 ft downhill from the base of the tower. Find the shortest length of wire needed.

Answer 1

I'll give it a crack. Would you prefer it solved with triangles or vectors?

Answer 2

triangles plz

Answer 3

k gimme a sec :)

Answer 4

this is gonna come in parts:

Answer 5

so first you want to make a right triangle out of the problem. it just makes the math much nicer. Next step is to solve for x, the base of the triangle (which i forgot to label) and then use pythagorean theorem to find the length of wire required

Answer 6

so x = 42sin(19)
the base we'll call b =42cos(19)

then pythagorean theorem states that y^2 = (190+x)^2 + b^2
so y = sqrt((190+x)^2 + b^2)

Answer 7

oh...makes sense now

Answer 8

i got confused by the guy wire part, like i wasnt sure which one was the guy wire

Answer 9

i thought the middle line was the guy wire

Answer 10

alright tyvm for the help :P

Answer 11

no worries :)