Question

The Montgomery Company tells Squeaky Clean that most of their buildings are 40 feet tall. Squeaky Clean decides to use ladders to reach the upper windows. The base of the ladder works best on the sidewalk so it needs to be 9 feet away from the building. How tall should the ladder be in order to reach the top of the building?

Answer 1

Answer: 41 feet

Step-by-step explanation: The ladder, the building and the sidewalk creates a right triangle, with the 90° formed at the junction of sidewalk and building, so the length of the ladder is the triangle's hypotenuse.

To determine hypotenuse, use Pythagorean's theorem:

$h^{2}=s^{2}_{1}+s^{2}_{2}$

$h=\sqrt{40^{2}+9^{2}}$

$h=\sqrt{1681}$

h = 41

For the ladder to reach the top of the building, it has to be 41 feet tall.