Question

The angle of elevation of a ladder leaning against a wall is 60º and the foot of the ladder is 4.6 m away from the wall. The length of the ladder is:

Answer 1

Well, the ladder against the wall creates a right triangle. We can use right triangle trig to find the length of the ladder. The length of the ladder represents the hypotenuse of the triangle. Because we know theta and the the distance from the wall to the foot of the ladder...

cos(60º) × hypotenuse = 4.6

0.5 × hypotenuse = 4.6

hypotenuse = 9.2 meters

answer: 9.2 meters

Answer 2

Check the picture below.