SOLUTION: a 10-foot ladder is placed against a house. If the base of the ladder is 3.5 feet from the base of the house, how high does the ladder reach on the house?

Question 532157: a 10-foot ladder is placed against a house. If the base of the ladder is 3.5 feet from the base of the house, how high does the ladder reach on the house?
Answer by oberobic(2304) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
We can solve this using the Pythagorean theorem.
The ladder is the hypotenuse = 10 ft.
The base is 3.5 ft.
.
c^2 = a^2 + b^2
.
c^2 - b^2 = a^2
.
10^2 - 3.5^2 = a^2
.
100 - 12.25 = a^2
.
a = sqrt(87.75)
.
a = 9.367496997597597 ft
or
a = -9.367496997597597 ft
.
Since you cannot have a negative height up the wall, you select the positive answer.
.
Answer: Height up the wall is about 9.37 ft.
.
Done.
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