Martin needs to place caution tape across both diagonals of a rectangular door that is broken in his store. if the dimensions of the door are 3 feet by 7 feet, how many feet of caution tape will he need?

To find the amount of caution tape needed you will use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the length of the hypotenuse (the diagonal).

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

3^2 + 7^2 = c^2

9 + 49 = c^2

58 = c^2

c = 7.62

The length of the diagonal is approximately 7.6 feet. You should round up so you have enough caution tape.

8 x 2 = 16

You will need approximately 16 feet of caution tape.