Question

The bottom of a 30 foot ladder is 7.5 feet from the bottom of a wall of a building. Explain how you can find the height at which the ladder touches the wall. The find that height to he nearest foot.

Answer 1

Answer: 29 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

You can calculate the height at which the ladder touches the wall by applying the pythagorean theorem, which is:

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

Where a is the hypotenuse and b and c are the legs.

You have that:

 $a=30ft\\b=7.5ft$

Then solve for the other leg:

$c=\sqrt{a^{2}-b^{2}}=\sqrt{(30ft)^{2}-(7.5ft)^{2}}=29ft$