SOLUTION: A 15ft ladder is leaning against a buliding. If the bottom of the ladder is 9ft from the base of the building, how high does the ladder reach? I got 17.49 I'm not sure if it's r

Question 34876: A 15ft ladder is leaning against a buliding. If the bottom of the ladder is 9ft from the base of the building, how high does the ladder reach?
I got 17.49 I'm not sure if it's right.
Found 2 solutions by stanbon, checkley71:
Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
A 15ft ladder is leaning against a buliding. If the bottom of the ladder is 9ft from the base of the building, how high does the ladder reach?
Draw the picture:
The ladder is the hypotenuse of a right triangle.
The 9 ft. is one of the sides.
Let the height the ladder reaches be "x".
EQUATION:
x^2+9^2=15^2
x^2=144
x=12 ft. (the ladder reaches 12 ft. up the wall)
Cheers,
Stan H.

Answer by checkley71(8403) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
THE LADDER CANNOT REACH HIGHER THAN THE LENGTH OF THE LADDER.
THE FORMULA FOR THIS PROBLEM IS BASE~2*HEIGHT~2=LENGTH OF THE LADDER~2
OR 9~2+HEIGHT~2=15~2 OR 81+HEIGHT~2=225 OR HEIGHT~2=225-81 OR HEIGHT~2=144 OR
HEIGHT IS SQRT OF 144 OR HEIGHT=12 FEET
THIS IS A STANDARD 3-4-5 OR A 9-12-15 RIGHT TRIANGLE.

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