Problema Solution
a 15 feet ladder is leaning against a building, with the base of the ladder 5ft from the building. How high up on the building will the top of the ladder reach?
Answer provided by our tutors
You need to use the Pythagorean theorem, a^2 + b^2 = c^2 to solve this problem.
The 15 ft ladder is c, because iti s the hypotenuse.
The base being 5 ft away can be a or b.
So you have 5^2 + b^2 = 15 ^2
25 + b^2 = 225
b^2 = 200
b = 10
Therefore, the ladder will reach up to 10 feet high on the building.