Question

Mrs. Ardoin wants to build a she-shed treehouse, but she is not a fan of heights. She has a 5-foot ladder that must be propped

diagonally against the
tree. If the base of the ladder is 3 feet from the bottom of the tree, how high will her she-shed be off the ground?

Answer 1

4 ft

Explanation:

Picture a right triangle with a hypotenuse of 5 (length of the ladder), and a base of 3. You are solving for the length of the other leg of the triangle (the height, h, of the shed off the ground). Use the Pythagorean theorem to find h.

5² = 3² + h²

h² = 5² - 3² = 25 - 9 = 16

h = √16 = 4

Note: this a a 3-4-5 right triangle