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A 20-foot ladder is placed 12 feet from the wall. How high up the wall will the ladder reach?

2 Answers

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this is pretty easy just use the pythagorean theorem of a^2+b^2=c^2

20 is the hypotenuse
12 is the base
12^2+b^2=20^2
144+b^2=400
b^2=256
b=16

the ladder will reach 16 feet up the wall
hope this helps! :)
User Hap
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3 votes
use the Pythagorean theorem

the hypotenuse is the ladder which is 20 ft and the base is 12 ft thus

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

a^2 + 144 = 400
a^2 = 256
a = 16

so its 16 ft
User Phhu
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8.3k points