A wire extends from the top of a 7-meter telephone pole to a stake in the ground 3 meters away. How long is the wire? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth

To solve this problem, we can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse (the side opposite the right angle) is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides.

In this case, the telephone pole is one side of the triangle, the distance from the pole to the stake is the other side, and the wire is the hypotenuse.

The length of the telephone pole is 7 meters, and the distance to the stake is 3 meters.

So, we can set up the equation as follows:

Wire² = 7² + 3² Wire² = 49 + 9 Wire² = 58

To find the length of the wire, we take the square root of 58:

Wire = √58 ≈ 7.6 meters

So, the wire is approximately 7.6 meters long.