Question

A youth group is setting up camp. Rain is predicted, so the campers decide to build a fly, or rain cover, over their tent. The fly will be 12 feet high and 16 feet wide. The scouts are building the frame for the fly with two poles slanted and joined together at the top of the tent.

The minimum length of the slanted poles needed to support the fly is feet.

Answer 1

14.42

Hope this helps!

Explanation:

Answer 2

The poles, when joined, will form an isosceles triangle, with the triangle's base being equivalent to the base of the fly and the equal sides being equal to the length of the poles. If we bisect this triangle down the main vertex to divide its base into two equal parts, we end up with a right-angle triangle with:
Base = 16/2 = 8 feet
Height = 12 feet

Using Pythagoras theorem:
length = √(12² + 8²)
Length = 14.4 feet