Question

A ladder, 3.8m long, leans against a building. If the angle between the ground and the ladder is 51°, how far from the wall is the bottom of the ladder? Round the answer to the nearest tenth.​

Answer 1

We can use trigonometry to solve this problem.

Let's call the distance we are looking for "x". We can use the sine function, which relates the opposite side of a right triangle to its hypotenuse:

sin(51°) = opposite/hypotenuse

We know that the hypotenuse is the length of the ladder, which is 3.8m. We can solve for the opposite side (x) by rearranging the equation:

x = sin(51°) * 3.8m

x ≈ 2.98m

So the bottom of the ladder is about 2.98 meters away from the wall. Rounded to the nearest tenth, the answer is 3.0 meters.