Question

Suppose a 50-foot ladder is leaning against a wall. Which statements about the base of the ladder are true?

Answer 1

Answer and Step-by-step explanation:

These are the statements that make the question complete:

A. If the base is 24 feet from the wall, the ladder reaches 45 feet up the wall.

B. If the base is 30 feet from the wall, the ladder reaches 40 feet up the wall.

C. If the base is 27 feet from the wall, the ladder reaches 44 feet up the wall.

D. If the base is 14 feet from the wall, the ladder reaches 48 feet up the wall.

Since the ladder leans against a wall, a right angle triangle is formed. Since the ladder is now slant, then it's length becomes the hypothenuse.

The correct statements can be gotten through Pythagoras theorem which says:

A² + B² = C² where C is the hypothenuse and A and B are the other two sides.

Since the hypothenuse is 50, we can test each statement by taking the square of the two sides and add them up, if they are equal to 50² = 2500, then the statement is true.

A. 24² + 45² = 576 + 2025 = 2601 ≠ 2500, therefore it is false.

B. 30² + 40² = 900 + 1600 = 2500, therefore it is true.

C. 27² + 44² = 729 + 1936 = 2665 ≠ 2500, therefore it is false

D. 14² + 48² = 196 + 2304 = 2500, therefore it is true.

From here, statements B and D are true while the rest are all false.