document.write( "Question 117600: For safety reasons, the base of a 26 foot ladder should be at least 8 feet from the wall.How high can a 26 foot ladder safely reach? \n" ); document.write( "
Algebra.Com's Answer #85583 by jim_thompson5910(35256)\"\" \"About 
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
We basically have this triangle set up:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Since we can see that the triangle has legs of x and 8 with a hypotenuse of 26, we can use Pythagoreans theorem to find the unknown side.\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Pythagoreans theorem:\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2\" where a and b are the legs of the triangle and c is the hypotenuse\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"x%5E2%2B8%5E2=26%5E2\" Plug in a=x, b=8, and c=26. Now lets solve for x\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"+x++%5E+2+%2B+6+4+=+6+7+6\" Square each individual term\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"+x++%5E+2+=+6+7+6+-+6+4\" Subtract 64 from both sides\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"+x++%5E+2+=+6+1+2\" Combine like terms\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"s+q+r+t+%28++x++%5E+2+%29+=+s+q+r+t+%28+6+1+2+%29\" Take the square root of both sides\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"x=6%2Asqrt%2817%29\" Simplify the square root\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "Which approximates to...\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"x+=+2+4+.+7+3+8+6+3+3+7+5+3+7+0+6\"\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So our answer is\r
\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "\"x+=+2+4+.+7+3+8+6+3+3+7+5+3+7+0+6\"\r
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\n" ); document.write( "\n" ); document.write( "So the ladder can reach about 24.74 feet
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