Answer:
34 ft. tall
Step-by-step explanation:
Your first step should to draw a diagram. When you do that, your diagram should look like a right triangle, the leg, or the distance from the firetruck to the building, (we'll call this a) should be 30ft. and the hypotenuse, or the ladder (we'll call this c), should be 45ft.
Now we have a visual so it'll be easier.
We know that this problem is a right triangle and we know that to solve for a missing side of a right triangle you use pythagorean theorem: a^2+b^2=c^2
We know one leg 'a' and the hyp. 'c' and we just need to find 'b' the other leg (aka the building):
Plug in numbers and simplify:
30^2+b^2=45^2
900+b^2=2025
b^2=1125
≈33.54 OR 34 ft. tall
