Question

A painter leans a 10 ft ladder against a building. The base of the ladder is 7 ft from the building. To the nearest foot, how high on the building does the ladder reach?
A) 7 ft
B) 10 ft
C) 4 ft
D) 12 ft

Answer 1

Pythagorean theorem  a squared + b squared= c squared

The answer is D) 12 ft, no it does not reach.

Answer 2

The answer is A. (7ft) Because of Pythagorean Thm. Since the ladder is leaning against a building it makes 10ft the hypotenuse, (c). Additionally, they give you one of the bases, 7ft, (a) so in order to find the other base you must plug in what you already know. 10^2= 7^2+b^2 Which equals to 100= 49 + b^2 Then you subtract 49 on both sides ending up with b^2=51. Then you square root on both sides and get squared root 51. Which is around 7.1 ft. Making choice A correct.