If you place a 35-foot ladder against the top of a 31-foot building, how many feet will the bottom of the ladder be from the bottom of the building? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

To solve this problem we set up a right triangle and use the formula a²+b²=c² to find the third side.

In this problem the height of the building is one side and the length of the ladder is the hypotenuse.

Let b=31ft (height of the building)

And c=35ft (height of the ladder. this must be c)

Now a²+31²=35²

Solving we get:

a²+961=1225

a²=264

a=16.2ft (rounded to the nearest tenth of a foot)

Hope this helps!