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Mrs. Oliver needs to wash the windows on the second floor of her house.  She knows the windows are 12 feet above the ground.  Because of bushes along the side of the house, she has to place the base of the ladder 5 feet from the house. How long should her ladder be to reach the windows? Don’t forget to include units. Write your final answer as a complete sentence.

User Sancho
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answer:

so basically!!

To determine the length of the ladder Mrs. Oliver needs to reach the second-floor windows, we can use the Pythagorean theorem!!!!

According to the given information:

The windows are 12 feet above the ground.

The base of the ladder is placed 5 feet from the house.

Let's assume the length of the ladder is represented by "L". We can create a right triangle with the ladder as the hypotenuse, the vertical distance from the ground to the windows as one leg, and the horizontal distance from the base of the ladder to the house as the other leg.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the length of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides, we can set up the equation:

L^2 = 12^2 + 5^2

Simplifying this equation, we have:

L^2 = 144 + 25

L^2 = 169

Taking the square root of both sides of the equation, we find:

L = √169

L = 13

Therefore, the ladder should be 13 feet long to reach the second-floor windows.

Note: The final answer is given in feet, as requested.

i brained hard hope this helps a bunch!!!! - aydn

User Jleahy
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