Question

A ladder 13m long reaches a window which is 5m above the ground , on one side of the

street. Keeping its foot at the same point,
the ladder is turned to the other side of the street
to reach a window at a height of 12m. Find the
width of the street.

Answer 1

The ladder is 13 m long and leans against a window 5 m high, then the ladder leaned to the other side without moving its feet to reach the 12 m high window.

How to find the width of the street?

if we imagine a leaning ladder it will look like a right triangle and it will remind us of the Pythagorean theorem. do you remember the pythagorean theorem?

The Pythagorean theorem explains the relationship or relationship between the lengths of the sides of a right triangle.

The Pythagorean theorem reads: "The square of the length of the hypotenuse (hypotenuse) in a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other sides".

in the picture, let's say if the width of the street is a, the height of the window is b and the length of the stairs is c.

in this case we will find the width of the street, namely a, then we use formula a² = c² - b² .

then it will be

b = 12

c = 13

a² = c² - b²

a² = 13² - 12²

a² = 169 - 144

a² = 25

a = 5

So the width of the street is 5 m