Question

Two window washers, ian and caleb , lean a ladder against the side of a building so that Ian can wash a window while Caleb holds the ladder. The top of the ladder reaches the window, which is 15 feet off the ground. the base of the ladder is 8 feet away from the building. How long is the ladder?

A. 18 feet
B. 16 feet
C. 17 feet
D. 15 feet

Answer 1

C. 17 feet

Explanation:

This problem allows us to use the Pythagorean theorem to solve. We are give both legs or a right triangle. One leg is the height of the window =15ft and the other is the distance away from the building = 8ft. We are trying to find the length of the ladder, which will be the hypotenuse.

a^2 +b^2 =c^2 where a and b are the lengths of the legs and c is the hypotenuse

8^2+15^2 = c^2

64+225 = c^2

289 = c^2

Take the square root of each side

sqrt(289) = sqrt(c^2)

17 = c