Question

Christine places a ladder against the side of a house so that the top of the ladder makes an angle of 52° with the side of the house. The bottom of the ladder is 1.20m from the house. a) calculate the nearest hundredth of a meter, the vertical distance from the top of the ladder to the ground b) calculate to the nearest hundredth of a metre, the length of a ladder

Answer 1

(a) 0.94 m.

(b) 1.52 m.

Explanation:

Applying the trigonometry of a right triangle:

a) tan 52 = 1.2 / x where x is the vertical height

x = 1.2 / tan 52

x = 0.936 m

b) sin 52 = 1.2 / l where l is the length of the ladder

l = 1.2 / sin 62

l = 1.523 m.