A pole 9 feet tall is used to support a guy wire for a tower, which runs from the tower to a metal stake in the ground. After placing the pole, Mackenzie measures the
distance from the pole to the stake and from the pole to the tower, as shown in the
diagram below. Find the length of the guy wire, to the nearest foot.

42 feet

Step-by-step explanation:

step-by-step explanation:

this can be solved first with pythagorean theorem, which tells us to square both legs of the triangle and sum it. this will be equal to the square of the hypotenuse.

the hypotenuse is the side "opposite" the 90 degree angle, which is x.

so we can write using pythagorean theorem,

simplifying:

to further simplify this radical, we need to use the property  

thus