Question

A ladder is placed against a vertical wall at an angle of 45° to the horizontal. If the foot of the ladder is 2.5m away from the wall, how high up the wall does the ladder reach?

Answer 1

Forming a triangle using the 45 degree angle both the horizontal and vertical dimensions need to be identical.

The horizontal dimension is given as 2.5m , so the vertical dimension also has to be 2.5m.

Can calculate it as:

Tan(45) = vertical/ horizontal

Tan(45) = x/2.5

Tan(45) = 1

1 = x/2.5

X = 2.5/1

X = 2.5