Wind Reel

Posted by admin on January 14, 2009 under Discount Saltwater Fishing | Be the First to Comment

Wind Reel

One end of a wire wound on a reel is fastened to the top of a pole 35 feet high; two men holding the reel on a?

rod on their shoulders five feet above the level ground walk away from the pole at the rate of five miles and hour keeping the wire straight. How far are they from the pole when the wire is unwinding at the rate of one mile an hour?
Any help on this will be much appreciated, I have tried similar triangles but obviously my calculus needs more work. Thank You.

The difference in height between the top of the shoulder and the top of the pole is 35 - 5 = 30'

Let x be the distance that the men are from the pole when the wire is unreeling at 1 mile an hour.

Thus the hypotenuse has to be 5x long to obtain the ratio of speeds, so now you have Pythagoras theorem (5x)^2 = x^2 +30^2.

Solve in the usual way.

Wind Reel