A 5 ft ladder is leaning against a 4 ft wall. How far must the bottom of the ladder be from the base of the wall so that the top of the ladder rests at the top of the wall?

To solve this, sketch a diagram (I attached one). You will see it the wall and ladder and ground form a right triangle. Use the Pythagorean Theorem to find the base.
a 2 + b 2 = c 2
a 2 + 4 2 = 5 2 a 2 + 16 = 25 a 2 = 9 a 2 ​ = 9 ​ a = 3
The bottom of the ladder must be 3 feet from the base of the wall.

Answered by iloveonedirection | 2024-06-10

To find out how far the bottom of a 5 ft ladder must be from the base of a 4 ft wall, we use the Pythagorean Theorem. The distance from the base of the wall is calculated as 3 feet. This forms a right triangle with the wall and ladder.
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Answered by iloveonedirection | 2024-10-01