Question

A 12-foot ladder rest against the side of a house. The base of the ladder is 3 feet away from the side of the house. How high above the ground is the top of the ladder? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

I would love for someone to help me real quick I am in summer school right now and only have 2 hours left and i have to do a lot of retests. So if anyone could help me in the next 5 minutes or so that would be nice.

Thanks

Answer 1

right triangle
from base of triangle to wall=a
from floor to top of ladder on wall=b
legnth of ladder=c

legnth=12=c
base is 3 feet away=a
use pythagorean theorem
a^2+b^2=c^2
3^2+b^2=12^2
9+b^2=144
subtract 9
b^2=135
square root both sides
b=√135=3√15

the height is 3√15 feet