Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems

A company must stretch a cable from the top of a tower that is 25 meters high to a point 50 meters away from the base of the tower. How long is the length of the cable? (Round to the nearest tenth).

The slide at the playground has a height of 6 feet. The base of the slide measured on the ground is 8 feet. What is the length of the slide?

• 8 feet

• 5.29 feet

• 10 feet

• 14 feet

The bottom of a 13-foot straight ladder is set into the ground 5 feet away from a wall. When the top of the ladder is leaned against the wall, what is the distance above the ground it will reach?

• 12 feet

• 13.9 feet

• 169 feet

• 18 feet

A baseball "diamond" is actually a square with sides of 90 feet. If a runner tries to steal second base, how far must the catcher, at home plate, throw to get the runner "out"? (Distance across the diagonal)

• 180 feet

• 90 feet

• 13.4 feet

• 127.3 feet

Lightning struck a tree, causing it to break and crash to theground. The tree broke off 12 feet above the ground and thebroken part was 20 feet long. If the broken tree formed a right triangle, how far away is the tip of the fallen tree?

The playing bed of a pool table is in the shape of a rectangle, which measures 154 inches by 20 inches. What is the length of the diagonal of the table? Round your answer to the nearest inch.

• 157

• 155

• 156

• 24116

Oh No! I can't get to my soccer ball because I can't remember how far away from the house the ladder needs to be!

The wall is 15 feet high. The ladder is 20 feet long.

How far does the ladder need to be from the house? Round to the nearest tenth).

• 13.0 feet

• 25 feet

• 15.2 feet

• 13.2 feet

Your family wants to purchase a new laptop with a 17" widescreen. Since the 17 inches represents the diagonal measurement of the screen (upper corner to lower corner), you want to find out the actual dimensions of the laptop. When you measured the laptop at the store, the height was 10 inches, but you don't remember the width. Calculate the width of the laptop to the nearest tenth of an inch.

• 7 inches

• 10 inches

• 19.7 inches

• 13.7 inches

A soccer field is a rectangle 90 meters wide and 120 meters long. The coach asks players to run from one corner to the other corner diagonally across the field. How far do the players run?

• 105 meters

• 79.4 meters

• 210 meters

• 150 meters

Which set of sides would make a right triangle?

• 4,5,6

• 8,10,12

• 5,12,13

• 5,10,12