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A ladder is leaning against a building forming a 25-degree angle with the building. If the ladder is 8 feet away from the building, how long is the ladder?

A: About 15 ft.
B: About 7.5 ft.
C: About 9 ft.
D: About 3 ft.

1 Answer

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Answer: About 15 feet.

Step-by-step explanation: To solve this problem, we can use the Pythagorean theorem. The ladder forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle with the building and the ground, with the angle at the building forming the right angle. If the ladder is 8 feet away from the building, then the length of the ladder is the same as the length of the other leg of the triangle.

We can use trigonometry to find the length of this leg. In a right triangle, the tangent of an angle is equal to the length of the opposite side divided by the length of the adjacent side. In this case, the adjacent side is the length of the ladder and the opposite side is 8 feet, so we can write the following equation:

tan(25 degrees) = opposite side / adjacent side

tan(25 degrees) = 8 feet / adjacent side

To find the length of the adjacent side (the ladder), we can divide both sides of the equation by the tangent of 25 degrees:

adjacent side = 8 feet / tan(25 degrees)

According to my calculations, the length of the ladder is about 15 feet, so the correct answer is A: About 15 ft.

User Kiran Sk
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