Question

The bottom of a 30 foot ladder is 7.5 feet from the bottom of a wall of a building. Explain how you can find the height at which the ladder touches the wall. The find that height to he nearest foot.

Answer 1

Answer: 29 ft

Explanation:

You can calculate the height at which the ladder touches the wall by applying the pythagorean theorem, which is:

`a^(2)=b^(2)+c^(2)`

Where a is the hypotenuse and b and c are the legs.

You have that:

`a=30ft\\b=7.5ft`

Then solve for the other leg:

`c=\sqrt{a^(2)-b^(2)}=\sqrt{(30ft)^(2)-(7.5ft)^(2)}=29ft`