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Ramesh and Suresh's mud buildings have heights of 8 cm and 15 cm respectively. They are 24 cm apart. How far are the tops of their mud buildings from each other?
24 cm
30 cm
25 cm
31 cm
25 cm
Recognize the classic Pythagorean triple (7,24,25). The horizontal distance is 24 and the vertical height difference is 15−8=7.
Height of Ramesh's building (h1) = 8 cm, Height of Suresh's building (h2) = 15 cm, Distance between buildings (d) = 24 cm
D=d2+(h2−h1)2
Recognize the classic Pythagorean triple (7,24,25). The horizontal distance is 24 and the vertical height difference is 15−8=7.
Students often add the heights instead of finding the difference, or forget to apply the Pythagorean theorem on the right-angled triangle formed by the distance and height difference.
Step 1: Identify the given dimensions
We are given the height of Ramesh's building h1=8 cm and Suresh's building h2=15 cm. The horizontal distance between them is d=24 cm.
h1=8 cm,h2=15 cm,d=24 cm
Step 2: Find the vertical height difference
The vertical difference in height between the two tops is the difference between their heights: h2−h1.
Δh=15−8=7 cm
Step 3: Apply the Pythagorean theorem
The distance between the tops forms the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle where the base is the distance between the buildings (24 cm) and the perpendicular is the height difference (7 cm): D=d2+(Δh)2
D=242+72=576+49=625=25 cm
C is correct because the distance between the tops of their mud buildings calculated using the Pythagorean theorem is 25 cm.
Pythagorean triples frequently appear in height and distance problems across both geometry and trigonometry.