SOLUTION: Hello I have a word problem on the Pythagorean theorem. It says.... the bottom of a ladder must be placed 3 feet from a wall. The ladder is 12 feet long. How far above the ground

Question 829545: Hello I have a word problem on the Pythagorean theorem. It says.... the bottom of a ladder must be placed 3 feet from a wall. The ladder is 12 feet long. How far above the ground does the ladder touch the wall? I also need help like lets say a lawn is 4 meters by 5 meters... how much is it if you cross diagonally across I dont know how to solve both of these problems.. thanxs
Found 2 solutions by josmiceli, LinnW:
Answer by josmiceli(19441) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The legs of a right triangle are the 2 sides
that are 90 degrees to each other.
The 3rd side is the hypotenuse.
----------------------------
Let = one of the legs
Let = the other leg
Let = the hypotenuse
-------------------------
The pythagorean theorem says:

---------------------
For your problem, you can say ft
The length of the ladder is the hypotenuse,
so ft
----------------
The distance from the ground to where the ladder
touches the wall is , so

ft
-----------------
check:

close enough
----------------
Your other problem is

meters is the
diagonal distance

Answer by LinnW(1048) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
For the ladder problem, the ladder is the hypotenuse.
Let h = height to the top of the ladder.
So h^2 + 3^2 = 12^2 , based on
h^2 + 9 = 144
add -9 to each side.
h^2 = 135
take the square root of each side.

h = 11.62
___
For the lawn that is 4 by 5, the diagonal is the hypotenuse.
(c=length of diagonal)^2 = 4^2 + 5^2
c^2 = 16 + 25
c^2 = 41
c =
c = 6.403
Check tutorLinnWilson.jimdo.com if you need help.
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