Question

Toby put a 13 foot ladder against the side of his house. The distance from the base of the house to the top of the ladder is 12 ft. How far is the base of the ladder from the base of the house?

Answer 1

Answer:

5 feet

Step-by-step explanation:

The set up will give a right angles triangle with:

length of the ladder as the hypotenuse h = 13 foot

The distance from the base of the house to the top of the ladder is the opposite side (y) = 12 feet

The distance of the base of the ladder from the base of the house wil be the adjacent side (x)

Using the pythagoras theorem to get x:

h² = x²+y²

13² = x²+12²

x² = 13²-12²

x² = 169 -144

x² = 25

x = √25

x = 5 feet

Hence the distance of the base of the ladder from the base of the house is 5 feet long