Question

A ladder is 6 ft from the house at the base, and the ladder reaches 14 ft up the side of the house. What is the length of the ladder?

a) 10 ft
b) 12 ft
c) 16 ft
d) 20 ft

Answer 1

The length of the ladder can be found using the Pythagorean theorem. In this case, the ladder forms a right triangle with the base of the ladder being one side and the height of the ladder being the other side. The length of the ladder is approximately 15.2 ft.

Step-by-step explanation:

The length of the ladder can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides. In this case, the ladder forms a right triangle with the base of the ladder being one side and the height of the ladder being the other side.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can calculate the length of the ladder as follows:

Length of ladder = square root of (base^2 + height^2)

Plugging in the given values:

Length of ladder = square root of (6^2 + 14^2)

Length of ladder = square root of (36 + 196)

Length of ladder = square root of 232

Length of ladder ≈ 15.2 ft

Therefore, the length of the ladder is approximately 15.2 ft.