A newly planted tree needs to be staked with three wires. Each wire is attached to the trunk 3 ft above the ground and then anchored to the ground 4 ft from the base of the tree. How much wire is needed for 6 trees?
Answer (3)
90 feet of wire because 3 squared is 9 and 4 squared is 16 so 16+9=25 and the square root of 25 is 5 and 5 3=15 so that is 15 feet for one tree so 15 6=90
The correct answer is:
90 feet.
Explanation :
Each wire forms a right triangle with the tree and the ground. The height from the ground to the point on the tree the wire is attached to, 3 feet, is one leg. The length from the tree to where the wire is staked in the ground, 4 feet, is the other leg.
We use the Pythagorean theorem to find the hypotenuse: 3²+4²=c²; 9+16=c²; 25=c²; √25=√(c²); 5=c
This means each wire will be 5 feet long. There are 3 wires per tree, which gives us 5 3 = 15 feet. There are 6 tree, so this is 15 6 = 90 feet of wire.
To stake 6 trees, we need a total of 90 feet of wire. Each tree requires 3 wires, each measuring 5 feet in length. Therefore, the calculation is 15 feet of wire per tree multiplied by 6 trees.
;
