Fletcher Glover

Mathematics

28 March, 23:05

On a camping trip, you decide to hang your backpack from a rope stretched between two trees, so bears can't steal your food while you sleep. The trees are 20 feet apart, and the rope is tied to each tree at a spot 12 feet above the ground. When you hang your backpack on the rope, the weight of the pack pulls the rope down a little-each side of the rope now makes an angle of 15 degrees with the horizontal. That night, a bear comes into your camp and tries to get your backpack with the food in it. Standing on its back legs, the bear can reach 8 feet into the air. Is your stuff safe? (Your backpack is two feet long.)