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A 16-foot ladder leans against the side of a building. the top of the ladder touches the side of the building at 12 feet above the ground. how far away from the base of the building is the bottom of the ladder?

 Aug 3, 2017
 #1
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A 16-foot ladder leans against the side of a building. the top of the ladder touches the side of the building at 12 feet above the ground. how far away from the base of the building is the bottom of the ladder?

 

Use Pythagoras's theorem to solve the unknown side:

Let the base of this triangle = B, So you have:

B^2 + 12^2 = 16^2

B^2 + 144 = 256 subtract 144 from both sides

B^2 = 256 - 144

B^2 = 112          take the square root of both sides

B = 10.583 - feet - the distance from the base of the building to the ladder.

 Aug 3, 2017
 #2
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We can use the Pythagorean Theorem  to solve this....the length of the ladder forms the hypotenuse of a right triangle 

 

The distance the ladder is from the bottom of the wall is given by :

 

√ [ 16^2  - 12^2]   =  √ [ 256 - 144 ]  = √112  = √ [ 16 * 7 ] =  4√7  ft  ≈ 10.6 ft

 

 

cool cool cool

 Aug 3, 2017

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