Question

If you place a 100-foot ladder against the top of a 96-foot building, how many feet will the bottom of the ladder be from the bottom of the building?

Answer 1

Answer:

28 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

I add a graph to this question.

In the graph we can see that the ladder, the building and the distance ''x'' form a right triangle.

We can use the Pythagorean theorem to solve this exercise. The Pythagorean theorem states that if ''a'' and ''b'' are the sides of a triangle and 'h'' is its hypotenuse ⇒

$a^{2}+b^{2}=h^{2}$

If we apply this equation to the graph we can find the distance ''x'' :

$x^{2}+(96ft)^{2}=(100ft)^{2}$

$x^{2}+9216(ft^{2})=10000(ft^{2})$

$x^{2}=784(ft^{2})$

$x=\sqrt{784(ft^{2})}$

$x=28ft$

We find that the distance ''x'' is 28 ft

Answer 2

X^2+y^2=z^2

x^2+96^2=100^2

x=sqrt(100^2-96^2)

x=28 so the distance from the base of the ladder and the base of the ladder is 28ft.

Hope this helps. Any questions please just ask. Thank you.