If you place a 50 foot ladder against the top of a 40 foot building, how many feet will the bottom of the ladder be from the bottom of the building? (hint: draw a diagram)

Question

a
b
c
d

Answer 1

The 50, or the ladder, is the hypotenuse of the triangle. The 40 ft height of the building is one of the sides. Use the Pythagorean theorem to solve

a²+b²=c² where c is the hypotenuse. Plugging in values

a²+(40)²=(50)² Simplify

a²+1600=2500 Subtract 1600 from both sides

a²[phone]=2500-1600 Simplify

a²=900 Take the square root of both sides

a=30

a. 30

Answer 2

The key to this problem is to correctly set up the Pythagorean theorem to solve. Since the ladder touches the top of the building but not the base, that means it forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle.

Setting up the Pythagorean theorem, with x being the distance along the ground, y being the height of the building, and z the elength of the ladder:

x² + y² = z²

x² + 40² = 50²

x² = 2500-1600 = 900

x=30

Answer 3

try To draw ( imagine)a right triangle with the ladder as the hypotenuse. The building will be the opposite side and the ground will be the adjacent side. You have to find the length of the adj side. You can use Pythagorean theorem and calculate.

c^2= a^2+b^2

c- length hypotenuse

a and b will be length of the legs of the right triangle

hope this helps.