Question

Your friend has locked themselves out of the house and they need your help to get back in they have 15 foot long ladder and there is an open window 12 feet above the ground how far from the wall should you hold the ladder while they climb back in

Answer 1

To determine how far from the wall you should hold the ladder, we can use the concept of similar triangles and apply the Pythagorean theorem to find the length of the adjacent side.

Step-by-step explanation:

To determine how far from the wall you should hold the ladder, we can use the concept of similar triangles. The ladder, being 15 feet long, forms a right triangle with the ground and the wall. The length of the ladder is the hypotenuse of this triangle, while the distance from the wall to the ladder when it is held is the adjacent side, and the height of the window is the opposite side.

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can find the length of the adjacent side: adjacent² + opposite² = hypotenuse². Plugging in the values, we get: adjacent² + 12² = 15². Solving for the adjacent side, we have: adjacent² = 15² - 12² = 225 - 144 = 81. Taking the square root of both sides, we find that the adjacent side is 9 feet.

Therefore, you should hold the ladder 9 feet from the wall while your friend climbs back in through the open window.