a 44-foot ladder leans against a wall so that the angle between the ground and the ladder is 10°. How high does the ladder reach the wall?

Answer 1

Hi Veronica,

We can determine how high up the ladder goes by using a trig function. The one that works here is sine because we are looking for the opposite of the angle divided by the hypotenuse.

setup

sin angle = opposite side /hypotenuse

sin 10 degrees = opposite side/ 44 ft

sin 10 = .1736 = opposite side/ 44 solve for opposite side and remember there are only 2 significant figures.

ladder will go up 7.64 ft answer is 7.6 ft

hope this helps.

did you draw out a diagram to be able to visualize what you were looking for?