Question

The top of a ladder rests at a height of 12 feet against the side of a house. If the base of the ladder is 9 feet from the house, what is the length of the ladder? Round to the nearest foot.

Answer 1

16 ft

Explanation:

The length of the ladder is 16\ ft16 ft

Explanation:

Let

L ----> the length of the ladder

we know that

Applying the Pythagoras theorem

L^{2}=15^{2} +6^{2}L

2

=15

2

+6

2

L^{2}=261L

2

=261

L=\sqrt{261}\ ftL=

261

ft

L=16\ ftL=16 ft

Answer 2

The ladder forms a right angled triangle with the wall and the ground
Since the short sides are 9 and 12 the ladder must be 15 feet long
The triangle is 3 times bigger than a 3,4,5 triangle (the simplest Pythagorean triple)

The ladder is 15 feet long