Question

A 12 foot ladder is resting against a wall. The base of the ladder is 2.8 feet from the base of the wall.How high up the wall will the ladder reach? Show all work and round to the nearest tenth.​

Answer 1

≈11.7 [ft].

Explanation:

1) the ladder and the wall form the right triangle, where the length of the ladder (12 ft) is hypotenuse and the distance between the base of the latter and the base of the wall is the shortest side.

2) the longest side can be calculated according the Pythagoras theorem:

`L=√(12^2-2.8^2)=√(136.16)=11.7[ft].`