SOLUTION: A ladder is leaning against a building so that the distance from the ground to the top of the ladder is 1 foot less than the length of the ladder. Find the length of the ladder if
Question 1028667: A ladder is leaning against a building so that the distance from the ground to the top of the ladder is 1 foot less than the length of the ladder. Find the length of the ladder if the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the building is 7 ft. Answer by stanbon(75887) (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website! A ladder is leaning against a building so that the distance from the ground to the top of the ladder is 1 foot less than the length of the ladder. Find the length of the ladder if the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the building is 7 ft.
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Sketch the picture.
You have a right triangle with
height = h
hypotenuse = ladder = h+1
base = 7 ft
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Use Pythagoras to solve for "h"::
(h+1)^2 = h^2 + 7^2
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h^2 + 2h + 1 - h^2 = 49
2h + 1 = 49
2h = 48
height = 24 ft
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Cheers,
Stan H.
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