ladder resting against wall.The top ladder touch wall height 4 ft.Find distance from the wall to the bottom of the ladder if the length of the ladder is 1 more than twice its distance from wall.

Answer 1

Make a figure which shows a right triangle with one leg equal to 4 the other leg equal to x and the hypotenuse equal to 2x + 1.

Theorem of Pythagoras: x² + 16 = (2x + 1)² = 4x² + 4x +1

Collect terms: 3x² + 4x - 15 = 0

This factors easily; one root is extraneous.