SOLUTION: The base of a ladder is 3 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 14 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth. Thanks~ ac

Algebra ->  Customizable Word Problem Solvers  -> Geometry -> SOLUTION: The base of a ladder is 3 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 14 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth. Thanks~ ac      Log On

Ad: Over 600 Algebra Word Problems at edhelper.com


   



Question 58324: The base of a ladder is 3 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 14 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth.
Thanks~
ac

Found 2 solutions by Nate, funmath:
Answer by Nate(3500) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
............................./..|.....
............................/...|.....
.........................../....|.....
.....................c../......|.14ft
......................../.......|.....
....................../.........|.....
..................../...........|.....
................../_3ft__|.....
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
a^2 + b^2 = c^2
14^2 + 3^2 = c^2
196 + 9 = c^2
205 = c^2
sqrt(205) = c = about 14.318ft

Answer by funmath(2933) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!
Hi ac,
The base of a ladder is 3 feet away from the wall. The top of the ladder is 14 feet from the floor. Find the length of the ladder to the nearest thousandth.
:
The ladder, floor and wall form a right triangle in which the wall and floor are the legs and the ladder is the hypotenuse.
The pythagorean theorem can be used to solve this kind of problem:highlight%28c%5E2=a%5E2%2Bb%5E2%29 c=hypotenuse, a=one leg, and b=other leg.
Let the ladder=c.
c%5E2=3%5E2%2B14%5E2
c%5E2=9%2B196
c%5E2=205
sqrt%28c%5E2%29=sqrt%28205%29
c=14.3178
highlight%28c=14.318%29
Happy Calculating!!!