Question

Michelle delivers books to school libraries. her truck has a slide out ramp for unloading the books. the top of the ramp is 3 ft above the ground. the ramp itself is 5.2 ft long. what is the horizontal distance the ramp reaches

Answer 1

Answer:

4.2 ft

Step-by-step explanation:

We can assume that the truck is vertically straight, so this will make up the vertical side of the triangle.

This means that the triangle is a right triangle since a right angle will be formed with the ground and the 3 ft side.

Next, we have the ramp length which is 5.2 ft long. This will be the hypotenuse of the right triangle since the ramp is slanted.

We want to find the length of the horizontal leg of the right triangle, which will give us the horizontal distance the ramp reaches.

We can use the Pythagorean Theorem since this is a right triangle:

• a² + b² = c²
• a and b are the legs, c is the hypotenuse

Substitute these values into the equation and solve for b.

• (3)² + b² = (5.2)²
• 9 + b² = 27.04
• b² = 18.04
• b = 4.24735211632

The horizontal distance the ramp reaches is 4.2 ft, parallel to the ground.