Question

A ladder is leaning against

a brick building as shown in the figure. What
is the length of the ladder?
x ft
20 ft
15 ft

Answer 1

25 ft

Explanation:

This is a right triangle, so we can use the Pythagorean theorem

a^2+b^2 = c^2 where a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse

15^2 + 20 ^2 = x^2

225+400= x^2

625 = x^2

Take the square root of each side

sqrt(625) = sqrt(x^2)

25 = x