Question 552515
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A 20 foot ladder is leaned against a wall. If the base of the ladder is 8 feet 
from the wall, how high up the wall will the ladder reach?
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<pre>
You have a right-angled triangle.

Its hypotenuse is the ladder length of 20 ft.

One leg of this right-angled triangle is 8 ft long.
It is the distance on the ground from the base of the ladder to the wall


You want to find how high up the wall will the ladder reach.
This length is another leg of this right-angled triangle.


We find this height by applying the Pythagorean formula


    height = {{{sqrt(20^2 - 8^2)}}} = {{{sqrt(400-64)}}} = {{{sqrt(336)}}} = 18.3303 ft.


Round and get the <U>ANSWER</U>: the ladder reaches the wall at the height of 18.33 ft.
</pre>

Solved.


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