Question

a 13 ft ladder must reach 12 ft up the side of a house. how many feet from the house should the bottom of the ladder be placed?

Answer 1

a 13 ft ladder must reach 12 ft up the side of a house. how many feet from the house should the bottom of the ladder be placed?

Answer: 1 foot

Answer 2

5 ft

Explanation:

Ladder top, the wall and the horizontal distance will form a right triangle with:

• Hypotenuse = 13 ft

• Vertical leg = 12 ft

• Horizontal leg = x

As per Pythagorean theorem:

• x² + 12² = 13²
• x² = 169 - 144
• x² = 25
• x =√25
• x = 5 ft