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A 14-foot ladder is leaning against a house with the base of the ladder 6 feet from the house. How high up the house does the ladder reach? If necessary, round to the nearest tenth foot.

A 14-foot ladder is leaning against a house with the base of the ladder 6 feet from-example-1

1 Answer

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12.6\text{ ft (option }B)

Step-by-step explanation:

The ladder leaning on the house formed a right angled triangle

Using an illustration from the diagram given:

To get the height the house makes with the ladder, we will apply pythagoras' theorem:

Hypotenuse² = opposite² + adjacent²


\begin{gathered} \text{hypotenuse = 14, adjacent = 6, opposite = }? \\ 14^2=opposite^2+6^2 \\ 196\text{ = }opposite^2\text{ + 36} \\ \\ \text{subtract 36 from both sides:} \\ 196\text{ - 36 = }opposite^2 \\ 160\text{ = }opposite^2 \end{gathered}
\begin{gathered} \text{square root both sides:} \\ \sqrt[]{160}\text{ = }\sqrt[]{opposite^2} \\ \text{opposite = }12.649 \\ \\ \text{To the nearest tenth, the height of the house betw}een\text{ the ladder and base of the house is 12.6 ft (option B)} \end{gathered}

A 14-foot ladder is leaning against a house with the base of the ladder 6 feet from-example-1
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