A problem with one of my math assignments

What is the distance between two 50 meters long poles if a cable of 100 meters is hanging from the top of the two poles, and the center of the cable touches the ground.
Please someone explain the task to me because I have no idea how to solve it.

  • This is a time consuming problem. I suggest offering a bounty.

  • Kav10 Kav10
    0

    This is actually a trick question. Not time consuming if you see the trick. The two poles are a distance of 0 (zero) apart. Draw the poles and the cable. By logical thinking, half of the cable is 50 meters. The cable therefore is hanging directly downward! Meaning that the cable has to be doubled back upon itself, and the two poles must be coincident and 0 (zero) meters apart!

  • thanks for the help :)

1 Answer

This is actually a trick question. Not time consuming if you see the trick. The two poles are a distance of 0 (zero) apart. Draw the poles and the cable. By logical thinking, half of the cable is 50 meters. The cable therefore is hanging directly downward! Meaning that the cable has to be doubled back upon itself, and the two poles must be coincident and 0 (zero) meters apart!

Kav10 Kav10
1.7K
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