Evaluate the length of the horizontal portion using the Pythagorean Theorem.
≈ 3 ft.
Practice makes perfect
Let's begin with recalling the Pythagorean Theorem.
In a right triangle, the sum of the squares of the lengths of the legs is equal to the square of the length of the hypotenuse.
a^2+ b^2= c^2
Now, let's look at the given picture which presents the support for a basketball hoop. As we can see, the support forms a right triangle.
Therefore, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem to evaluate the value of x. Notice that, since x represents the side length, we will consider only the positive case when taking a square root of x^2.
