Andrew is making a ramp. Find the length of the ramp if the height is 7 meters and the base is 24 meters.

Answer 1

Finding the length of the ramp is made easy by using the Pythagorean Theorem (PT) for right triangles. We will assume that the shape of the ramp is a right triangle. The PT helps to find the length of a third side of a right triangle when you know the lengths of the other two sides.

The PT says to add squares of the height and base. So 7 squared is 49 and 24 squared is 476. The sum of 49 and 476 is 525. Next, take the square root of 525 and get 25. 25 is the length of the ramp.

Answer 2

Consider the ramp (R) being the hypotenuse of a right triangle with the height (h) of 7m being one leg and the base (b) being the other leg. Using the Pythagorean theorem:

R² = h² + b²

R² = 7² + 24²

R² = 625

R = 25 meters