Question

A wheelchair ramp is to be built from the ground to the door sill along side a building. The cross section of the ramp is a right triangle with a base that is 12 inches more than the three times the height of the door sill from the ground and a hypotenuse that is 35 inches more than twice the height. Use the Pythagorean theorem to write a quadratic equation. (Find the height base and hypotenuse of the ramp. (Round off to the nearest 100th of an inch.

Answer 1

If the base is 12 inches more than 3 times the height, you can start to set up your equation.
b=3h+12
If the hypotenuse is 35 inches more than twice the height, you have another equation.
H=2h+35
h^2+b^2=H^2
(2h+35)^2 - (3h+12)^2 = h^2