Question

A 13 Ft ladder is leaning up against a building, with the base of the ladder 2 feet from the building. How high up on the building will the top of the ladder reach?

Answer 1

Visualize the image in your mind and you can see that it forms a right angled triangle with a base,altitude and hypotenuse

base=2 feet

hypotenuse(ladder)=13 ft

We need to find the altitude,

By applying pythagoras theorem,

base square+altitude square=hypotenuse square

Take altitude as x

2 square+x square=13 square

4+x square=169

x square=169-4

x square=165

x= root of 165

x=12.8 feet(approx.)