Question

If you place a 26-foot ladder against the top of a building and the bottom of the ladder is 20 feet from the bottom of the building, how tall is the building? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

To find the height of the building, we can use the concept of similar triangles and the Pythagorean theorem. Plugging in the values, we get a height of approximately 16.6 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the height of the building, we can use the concept of similar triangles. The ladder, the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the building, and the height of the building form a right triangle. Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can set up the equation as follows:

h^2 = 26^2 - 20^2

Solving for h, we get:

h = √(26^2 - 20^2)

Plugging in the values, we have:

h ≈ √(676 - 400) ≈ √276 ≈ 16.6 feet