SOLUTION: The base of a ladder is 11 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 11 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth.

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Question 124116: The base of a ladder is 11 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 11 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth.
Answer by chitra(359) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
The given problem can be stated like this:

The base of the triangle is 11 ft and the altitude is 11 ft.

So we are supposed to measure the height of the ladder which forms the hypotenuse of the ladder.

We therefore use the pythagoras theorem to find the height of the ladder.
let the height be "x" feet

x%5E2+=+%2811%29%5E2+%2B+%2811%29%5E2+

x%5E2+=+2%2811%29%5E2

x%5E2+=+242

x+=+sqrt%28242%29

x = 15.5563

So to the nearest thousandth is 15.6000 ft