Mike learned a 20 foot ladder against a building. If the ladder makes an angle of 30 degrees with the ground, how many feet from the foot of the ladder to the a

Question

Mike learned a 20 foot ladder against a building. If the ladder makes an angle of 30 degrees with the ground, how many feet from the foot of the ladder to the base of the building

Answer 1

Draw a picture, and note that you have a right triangle of base b and hypotenuse of 20 ft.  Then

 

b/(20 ft) = cos30° 

 

b = 20 cos30° ft = ? ft