Here is a math question i got from school:
On a horizontal plane, there are two flagpoles. One is 20m, and the other is 10m. There is a wire connected from the top of each flagpole, to the bottom of the other one so that they cross each other . How high is the point they cross from the ground?
How do I solve it without using pythagoras
Let $h$ be the desired height, and let $a$ and $b$ be the horizontal distances from the point where the wires cross to the left and right flagpoles, respectively. Then using similar triangles, we have: $$ \frac{h}{a} = \frac{10}{a + b} \qquad\text{and}\qquad \frac{h}{b} = \frac{20}{a + b} $$ Solving for $h$, we can combine the above to get that: $$ \frac{10a}{a+b} = h = \frac{20b}{a + b} \iff a = 2b $$ Substituting into the second equation, we get: $$ \frac{h}{b} = \frac{20}{(2b) + b} \iff \boxed{h = \dfrac{20}{3}} $$