SOLUTION: a landLord needs to replace the fire escapes on his apartment building. for safety and stability each fire escapes must be perpendicular to the ladder. the platforms must be 12ft a

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Question 698273: a landLord needs to replace the fire escapes on his apartment building. for safety and stability each fire escapes must be perpendicular to the ladder. the platforms must be 12ft apart and 16ft long. what is the length of one set of stairs?
Answer by neatmath(302) About Me  (Show Source):
You can put this solution on YOUR website!

If I read this correctly, you can solve this using the Pythagorean Theorem.

12 ft would be the height (one leg) of the triangle,

16 ft would be the base (the other leg) of the triangle,

and you need to find the length of the diagonal stairs (the hypotenuse).

a%5E2%2Bb%5E2=c%5E2

12%5E2%2B16%5E2=c%5E2

144%2B256=c%5E2

400=c%5E2

c=20 ft

I knew the answer before I did the math, using a secret about special triangles.

This triangle is of the form 3:4:5, which is a Pythagorean Triple.

ANY triangle with sides in the ratio 3:4:5 is a right triangle.

Another popular Pythagorean Triple is 5:12:13

I hope this helps! Keep practicing! :)

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