Question

A ladder leans against the side of a house. The top of the ladder is 10 ft from the ground. The bottom of the ladder is 9 ft from the side of the house. Find thelength of the ladder. If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth.х5?9ExplanationCheck

Answer 1

Given:

Distance of top of ladder to the ground = 10 ft

Distance of bottom of ladder from the side of the house = 9 ft

Let's find the length of the ladder.

Since the ladder forms a right triangle with the house, to find the length of the ladder apply Pythagorean Theorem.

`c^2=a^2+b^2`

Where:

a = 10 ft

b = 9 ft

c = length of ladder

Thus, we have:

`\begin{gathered} c^2=10^2+9^2 \\ \\ c^2=100+81 \\ \\ c^2=181 \end{gathered}`

Take the square root of both sides:

`\begin{gathered} \sqrt[]{c^2}=\sqrt[]{181} \\ \\ c=13.5 \end{gathered}`

Therefore, the length of the ladder rounded to the nearest tenth is 13.5 ft

ANSWER:

13.5 ft