A - ladder leans against the side of a house. The bottom of the ladder is from the side of the house. How high is the top of the ladder from the ground?

Answer 1

Let's concentrate on the process; you can fill in numbers after you understand what to do.

Here is a sample picture (not to scale):

In Algebra I, a problem like this is used to teach the Pythagorean Theorem: a² + b² = c² It is true if you have a right triangle.

^{So, you will be working with squaring numbers and finding square roots of numbers. Also, it may be practical to leave an answer in the form of a square root.}

Here are some values (try using two in a row to find the third number in that row):

a b c

2 6 2√10 [note: √40 is 2√10 ]

5 12 13

Special note: A set of three integers that satisfy the Pythagorean Theorem are called Pythagorean triplets.

Answer 2

You're working with "trig". In order to figure a triangle; 3 measurments are needed: SAS, or ASA.

With this ladder; you're dealing with a rt triangle and you want side "c".