Question 58324
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(c^2=a^2+b^2)}}} c=hypotenuse, a=one leg, and b=other leg.
Let the ladder=c.
{{{c^2=3^2+14^2}}}
{{{c^2=9+196}}}
{{{c^2=205}}}
{{{sqrt(c^2)=sqrt(205)}}}
{{{c=14.3178}}}
{{{highlight(c=14.318)}}}
Happy Calculating!!!