141,562 views
35 votes
35 votes
A ladder reaches 2 m up a wall. the foot of the ladder is 0.4 m from the wall. for safety reasons, the slope should be between 6.3 and 9.5. is this ladder within the safe range?

User DarwinLouis
by
2.7k points

1 Answer

24 votes
24 votes

Answer:

No, the ladder is not within the safe range because the slope is 5.

Explanation:

To solve, find the slope of the ladder using the slope formula and check if the slope is between 6.3 and 9.5.

What is slope?

Slope is how steep a line is. In this case, the line is the ladder. If the ladder is too steep, them it is not safe.

How do we calculate slope?

You can calculate slope using the following formula:


slope = (rise)/(run)

Rise means how faraway vertically, or how high up the ladder is.

Run means the how faraway horizontally, or from the wall the ladder is.

Slope of the ladder

Let's calculate slope using the formula.


\displaystyle {slope=(rise)/(run)}


\displaystyle {slope=(2\ m)/(0.4\ m)} Substitute the values, 2m for rise, 0.4m for run.


\displaystyle {slope=5} Final answer

Is the ladder safe?

The question tells us that a safe ladder has a slope of 6.3 to 9.5. The slope, 5, is not between that range. Therefore, the ladder is not safe.

User Sergey Zabelnikov
by
3.2k points