Question

An iron rod 5m long is placed against the wall in such a way that

the foot of the rod is 3m away from the wall. Find how high the top of
the iron rod reaches in the wall

Answer 1

4 m

Explanation:

Let h represent the height reached by the tip of the rod on the wall. The bottom tip of the rod is 3 m from the base of the wall. Now a right triangle with horizontal leg 3 m and vertical leg h is formed with a hypotenuse of 5 m. The Pythagorean Theorem applies here and enables us to find the value of h:

h^2 + (3 m)^2 = 5^2, or:

h^2 = 25 - 9 = 16

The top of the rod is h = √16, or 4 m, above the ground.