How To Solve Amazon's Hanging Cable Interview Question

A cable of 80 meters (m) is hanging from the top of two poles that are both 50 m from the ground. What is the distance between the two poles, to one decimal place, if the center of the cable is (a) 20 m above ground? (b) 10 m above ground?

Chatterjee, Neil, and Bogdan G. Nita. "The hanging cable problem for practical applications." Atlantic Electronic Journal of Mathematics 4.1 (2010).
euclid.trentu.ca/aejm/V4N1/Chatterjee.V4N1.pdf

Careercup Amazon question
web.archive.org/web/20111129080426/https://www.…

Subscribe: youtube.com/user/MindYourDecisions?sub_confirma…

Send me suggestions by email (address in video). I consider all ideas though can't always reply!

Why are there comments before the video is published? Get early access and support the channel on Patreon
patreon.com/mindyourdecisions

If you buy from the links below I may receive a commission for sales. This has no effect on the price for you.

Show your support! Get a mug, a t-shirt, and more at Teespring, the official site for Mind Your Decisions merchandise:
teespring.com/stores/mind-your-decisions

My Books
Mind Your Decisions: Five Book Compilation
amzn.to/2pbJ4wR
A collection of 5 books:
"The Joy of Game Theory" rated 4.1/5 stars on 44 reviews
amzn.to/1uQvA20
"The Irrationality Illusion: How To Make Smart Decisions And Overcome Bias" rated 3.5/5 stars on 4 reviews
amzn.to/1o3FaAg
"40 Paradoxes in Logic, Probability, and Game Theory" rated 4.4/5 stars on 13 reviews
amzn.to/1LOCI4U
"The Best Mental Math Tricks" rated 4.7/5 stars on 8 reviews
amzn.to/18maAdo
"Multiply Numbers By Drawing Lines" rated 4.3/5 stars on 6 reviews
amzn.to/XRm7M4

Mind Your Puzzles: Collection Of Volumes 1 To 3
amzn.to/2mMdrJr
A collection of 3 books:
"Math Puzzles Volume 1" rated 4.4/5 stars on 13 reviews
amzn.to/1GhUUSH
"Math Puzzles Volume 2" rated 4.5/5 stars on 6 reviews
amzn.to/1NKbyCs
"Math Puzzles Volume 3" rated 4.1/5 stars on 7 reviews
amzn.to/1NKbGlp

Connect with me
My Blog: mindyourdecisions.com/blog/
Twitter: twitter.com/preshtalwalkar
Newsletter (sent only for big news, like a new book release): eepurl.com/KvS0r

2017 Shorty Awards Nominee. Mind Your Decisions was nominated in the STEM category (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) along with eventual winner Bill Nye; finalists Adam Savage, Dr. Sandra Lee, Simone Giertz, Tim Peake, Unbox Therapy; and other nominees Elon Musk, Gizmoslip, Hope Jahren, Life Noggin, and Nerdwriter.