SOLUTION: A 16-foot ladder is leaning against a building. How high on the building will the ladder reach when the bottom of the ladder is 5 ft from the building? Round to the nearest tenth.

Question 84066This question is from textbook 0-618-20323-0
: A 16-foot ladder is leaning against a building. How high on the building will the ladder reach when the bottom of the ladder is 5 ft from the building? Round to the nearest tenth. This question is from textbook 0-618-20323-0

Answer by Earlsdon(6294) (Show Source): You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Here, you can apply the Pythagorean theorem: to the right triangle formed by the ladder as the hypotenuse (side c), the wall of the building as the vertical side (side a) and the distance of the bottom of the ladder from the base of the building as the base of the right triangle, (side b).
So you are looking for the length of side a (the height the ladder reaches on the building) of the right triangle when you know the lengths of the other two sides.
Substitute c = 16 ft. (The ladder) and b = 5 ft. (The distance of the bottom of the ladder from the base of the wall)
Simplify and solve for a.
Subtract 25 from both sides.
Take the square root of both sides.
Round to the nearest tenth.
feet.
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