WAEC 2024 · Paper 1 · Q33

Find, correct to the nearest whole number, the value of $h$ in the diagram.

The paper marks this diagram “not drawn to scale”; the redraw uses the true measurements.

Worked solution (try it first)

Draw a horizontal line from the top of the 17 m side to the right side.
It is 19 m long and makes a right-angled triangle with the 20 m slant as hypotenuse.
By Pythagoras, the triangle's height is $\sqrt{20^2 - 19^2} = \sqrt{39}$
$\approx 6.24$ m.
So $h \approx 17 + 6.24 = 23.24$ m, which is 23 m to the nearest whole number, option C.