Two guy wires are attached to the top of a telecommunications tower and anchored to the ground on opposite sides of the tower, as shown. The length of the guy wire is 20 m more than the height of the tower. The horizontal distance from the base of the tower to where the guy wire is anchored to the ground is one-half the height of the tower. How tall is the tower, to the nearest tenth of a metre?
Pythagoras:(h2)2+h2=(h+20)2h24+h2=h2+40h+400h24=40h+400h24−40h−400=0|⋅4h2−160h−1600=0 ax2+bx+c=0x=−b±√b2−4ac2a x=−b±√b2−4ac2aa=1b=−160c=−1600h1,2=160±√1602−4⋅(−1600)2h1,2=160±√1602+40⋅1602h1,2=160±√160⋅(160+40)2h1,2=160±√160⋅2002h1,2=160±√1600⋅202h1,2=160±40√202h1,2=160±40⋅2⋅√52h1,2=160±80⋅√52h1,2=80±40⋅√5h=80+40⋅√5h=40⋅(2+√5)h=169.442719100
The tower is 169.4 m tall.
