Question

Jane is using a ladder to paint under a window of her house. The straight line distance from the bottom of the window to the ground is 6ft. (leg a). The bottom of the ladder is 5 ft. From the house (leg b). How tall must the ladder be to reach the window. You are finding "c".

Answer 1

Explanation:

The ladder forms a right angle triangle with the wall. The straight line distance from the bottom of the window to the ground forms the opposite side. The distance from the bottom of the ladder to the house represents the adjacent side. To determine the required length of the wire, c, we would Pythagorean theorem which us expressed as

Hypotenuse² = opposite side² + adjacent side²

Therefore,

c² = 6² + 5² = 36 + 25 = 61

c = √61 = 7.81 ft