Question

A diagonal sidewalk across a rectangular courtyard is 130 feet. The courtyard is 50 feet long. what is the other dimension of the lot?

Answer 1

SOLUTION

The diagram below represents the information

We can see that a right-triangle is formed. To get the dimension of the other side, we use the Pythagorean theorem.

We have that

$\begin{gathered} hypotenuse^2=opposite^2+adjacent^2 \\ 130^2=50^2+x^2 \\ x^2=130^2-50^2 \\ x^2=16900-2500 \\ x=\sqrt{14400} \\ x=120 \end{gathered}$

Hence the answer is 120 feet