document.write( "Question 89044: A ladder leans against a house with it's base 15 feet from the house. When the ladder is pulled 9 feet further away from the house the upper end slides down 13 feet. How long is the ladder?
\n" ); document.write( "I understand how to figure Pythagoreans theorem with one variable, but how do you do it with two variables?
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Algebra.Com's Answer #64727 by malakumar_kos@yahoo.com(315)\"\" \"About 
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\n" ); document.write( " A ladder leans against a house with it's base 15 feet from the house. When the ladder is pulled 9 feet further away from the house the upper end slides down 13 feet. How long is the ladder?
\n" ); document.write( "I understand how to figure Pythagoreans theorem with one variable, but how do you do it with two variables?\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " Let ABC be a right angled triangle such that angle A = 90 degrees\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " BC will be the hypotenuse, AB willbe the distance at which the foot of the ladder stands from the house, AC is the height at which the top of the ladder
\n" ); document.write( " meets the building.Let the height of the building be = x ft
\n" ); document.write( " applying pythagorous theorem we get BC^2 = AB^2+AC^2 (AC=15 ft)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " Therefore BC^2 = x^2+15^2...........eq'n (1)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " When the ladder is pulled 9 ft away from the house the upper end slides \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " 13 ftdown. The new triangle formed will be ADE such that DE is the \r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " hypotenuse , AD = x-13 , and AE = 15+9 = 24 ft\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " In both the triangles the hypotenuse represents the length of the ladder which is a constant for a given ladder.\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " applying Pythagorous theorem for triangle ADE we get DE^2 = AD^2+AE^2\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " or DE^2 = (x-13)^2+(24)^2..........eq'n(2)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " From eq'n(1) &eq'n(2) (x-13)^2+(24)^2 = x^2+15^2 (BC = DE)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " x^2+169-26x+576 = x^2+225\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " 169+576-225 = 26x\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " 745-225 = 26x\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " 520 = 26x\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " x = 520/26 = 20 ft
\n" ); document.write( " To find thelength of the ladder substitite the value of x in eq'n (1)\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " Therefore BC^2 = x^2+15^2
\n" ); document.write( " = 20^2+15^2
\n" ); document.write( " = 400+225
\n" ); document.write( " = 625\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( " BC = sq rt of 625 = 25 ft
\n" ); document.write( " Therefore the length of the ladder = 25 ft\r
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