The profile of the cables on a suspension bridge may be modeled by a parabola The central span of the bridge is 1280 m long and 160 m high The parabola y 0 00039x gives a good fit to the shape of the cables where x 640 and x and y are measured in meters Approximate the length of the cables that stretch between the tops of the two towers The length of the cables is approximately Round to the nearest whole number meters 160 m 1280 m