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A 25-ft ladder is placed 8 ft from the base of the house. How high up the side of the house can the ladder reach? Round your answer to the nearest foot.

2007-03-07 05:23:44 · 2 answers · asked by #1 Super Mommy 2 in Education & Reference Homework Help

2 answers

okay, this problem creates a right triangle, with the right angle being up against the bottom of the house. Since the ladder is placed 8 feet from the house, the base of triangle, or measurement A, is 8. the ladder, measuring 25 feet, is your longest side of the triangle, because it is the side directly opposite the widest angle. Therefore, 25 feet is measurement C. If you remember the formula for sides of a right triangle, A^2 + B^2 = C^2...

so, 8^2 + B^2 = 25^2
64 + B^2 = 625
(subtract 64 from both sides)

B^2 = 561
now, take the sqare root of both sides (to get rid of the ^2 on the B)
B = 23.6854....

so, B equals roughly 24 feet. That's how high up the side of the house the ladder can reach!

2007-03-07 05:38:13 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

24 ft

Pythagorean theorem

a^2 + b^2 = c^2
8^2 + b^2 = 25^2
64 + b^2 = 625
b^2 = 561
b = 23.685 = 24

2007-03-07 05:30:07 · answer #2 · answered by crzywriter 5 · 2 0

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