To find the shortest length of the guy-wire, we'll use trigonometry. The guy-wire forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle, where the tower's height is one leg and the distance from the tower's base to the anchoring point is the other leg.
Given:
- The height of the tower h = 238 ft
- The distance from the base of the tower to the anchoring point downhill d = 50 ft
- The angle of inclination θ = 38 degrees
We can use the trigonometric relationship of sine to find the length of the guy-wire g:
sin(θ) = h / g
First, let's find the height of the tower above the anchoring point. This can be calculated using the sine function:
h = g * sin(θ)
Rearranging for g:
g = h / sin(θ)
Substituting the given values:
g = 238 / sin(38 degrees)
Calculating:
g ≈ 238 / 0.6157 ≈ 386.14 ft
So, the shortest length of the guy-wire needed is approximately 386.14 ft.