Question

A 10-foot ladder leans against the side of a house with its base 2.2 feet from the house. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to approximate how high the ladder reaches up the side of the house. Round your answer to the nearest hundredth. The ladder reaches feet high.

Answer 1

The answer is 9.7 feet

Answer 2

Ladder reaches 9.76 high.

Explanation:

From the figure attached,

Ac is the ladder which reaches at the point A when leans against the side of a house.

Length of the ladder = 10 feet

Distance of the ladder form the base of a house = 2.2 ft

By Pythagoras theorem,

AC² = AB² + BC²

(10)² = h² + (2.2)²

h² = 100 - 4.84

h = √95.16

h = 9.755 feet

≈ 9.76 feet

Therefore, the ladder reaches the 9.76 high.