Question

A painter leans a 15 ft ladder against a building. The base of the ladder is 6 ft from the building. To the nearest foot, how high on the building does the ladder reach

Answer 1

Using the Pythagoras theorem

15^2 = x^2 + h^2 where h = height of ladder on the nuiding

h^2 = 15^2 - 6^2 = 189

= 13.75 ft to nearest hundredth

Answer 2

The height of the building does the ladder reach is 13.75 ft.

Explanation:

Given : A painter leans a 15 ft ladder against a building. The base of the ladder is 6 ft from the building.

To find : How high on the building does the ladder reach?

Solution :

Let us take AC=Length of a ladder =15 ft

BC = Distance between ladder base and wall of a building = 6 ft

AB = Height of the building does the ladder reach =h

Triangle formed is angle ABC which is right angle triangle.

Applying the Pythagoras theorem,

`AC^2 =AB^2 + BC^2`

`15^2 =h^2 + 6^2`

`225 =h^2 + 36`

`h=√(225-36)`

`h=√(189)`

`h=13.75`

Therefore, The height of the building does the ladder reach is 13.75 ft.