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SmartassDecember 13, 2006 - 12:00am
Tricia Petia123@aol.com asks: QuestionTwo metal poles, one 25ft high and the other 60ft high, are connected by a piece of wire that’s attached to both poles at the top. The wire is stretched perfectly tight between the poles.If the poles are 60ft apart, how long is the wire? Answer$ bc bc 1.06 Copyright 1991-1994, 1997, 1998, 2000 Free Software Foundation, Inc. This is free software with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. For details type `warranty'. scale=2 60-25 35 sqrt((35^2)+(60^2)) 69.46 69.46 feet. About Adam Knight |
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Or you could just punch “square root ((60^2)+(60-25)^2)” into google.
Your answer assumes the poles are parallel to each other.
Rather, I presume competent labor.
Even assuming these poles were installed in the ground and in a traditional manner by competent labor, it also assumes that the poles have not been hit by a log truck, nor moved by earthquakes, tipped by high winds, etc. post installation.
And how do we know termites haven’t eaten away the base of the poles, and they each fell to the ground in opposite directions?
A good programmer will account for such contingencies!
The answer is from 0.0 to infinite.
Correct and valid reasoning: This question makes assumptions that the base of the poles are on the same plane. It assumes the poles are parallel. It assumes that “top” of the pole refers to a mathematically unrealistic 0.0 width pole (it never says the center of each pole, nor the width of each pole). Granted, we could argue that metal, assuming we are talking a metal that exists and not one of fantasy, can only be so thin before is bends… But again, if the base is not on the same plane, then the rest is pure conjecture.
Many years ago, I had an instructor who put exactly those kinds of questions on tests. Anyone who made an assumption, flunked the question (had Mr. Knight explained his assumptions, tho, he would have passed — aka showing your work).
Feloneous
“A billion points to Gryffindor!”