Question

A 12- foot ladder is resting against a wall. The base of the ladder is 2.5 feet from the base of the wall. How high up the wall will the ladder reach. I half to use pythagorean theorem form to answer

Answer 1

The right triangle has legs of x and 2.5 where x is the height up the wall that the ladder will reach. The length of the ladder is the hypotenuse of the right triangle.

According to the Pythagorean Theorem, x^2 + 2.5^2 = 12^2
x = 11.736 approx To the nearest tenth that is 11.7.