Question

20) A 15-foot ramp is used to load the back of a moving truck. If the back of the truck is 3 feet from the ground, what is the horizontal distance from where the ramp reaches the ground to the truck? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

Let's draw the diagram:

We need to find the horizontal distance. Let's call it "x".

We can use pythagorean theorem to solve this.

Pythagorean Theorem:

`c^2=a^2+b^2`

Using Pythagorean Theorem, you can write:

`15^2=x^2+3^2`

Solving:

`\begin{gathered} 15^2=x^2+3^2 \\ 225=x^2+9 \\ x^2=225-9 \\ x^2=216 \\ x=\sqrt[]{216} \\ x=14.6969 \end{gathered}`

We have to round to nearest 10th , that means 1 decimal place.

So, correct answer is:

14.7 feet