Question

4. Would a 51-foot ladder be long enough to climb a 50-foot wall? Sketch a graph and find your answer using trigonometric functions

Answer 1

Yes, it is enough to climb.

Explanation:

Let suppose that wall is vertical and perpendicular to surface, a right-angled triangle is formed after using the ladder against the wall. (See attachment)

Ladder is useful only if its length is greater than wall length and trigonometrically speaking, the ratio of wall length to ladder length must be less than 1, associated with the definition of sine. That is:

`\sin \theta = (50\,ft)/(51\,ft)`

`\sin \theta = 0.980`

In a nutshell, the 51-foot ladder is useful to clime a 50-foot wall.