Question

A fire truck parks 30 feet

away from a building. The
fire truck extends its ladder
45 feet to the very top of
the building. How tall is the
building?

Answer 1

about 33.5 feet tall

Explanation:

use pythagorean's theorem:

a^2+b^2=c^2

plug in values:

30^2 + b^2 = 45^2

(we know the ladder extends diagonally so 45 is the hypotenuse meaning we plug it in for c)

rearrange the equation:

b^2= 45^2 - 30^2

b^2= 2025 - 900

b^2 = 1125

b=
`√(1125) \\`

b= 33.5

Answer 2

34 ft. tall

Explanation:

Your first step should to draw a diagram. When you do that, your diagram should look like a right triangle, the leg, or the distance from the firetruck to the building, (we'll call this a) should be 30ft. and the hypotenuse, or the ladder (we'll call this c), should be 45ft.

Now we have a visual so it'll be easier.

We know that this problem is a right triangle and we know that to solve for a missing side of a right triangle you use pythagorean theorem: a^2+b^2=c^2

We know one leg 'a' and the hyp. 'c' and we just need to find 'b' the other leg (aka the building):

Plug in numbers and simplify:

30^2+b^2=45^2

900+b^2=2025

b^2=1125

≈33.54 OR 34 ft. tall