A self-supporting ladder placed so that the angle between the ladder and the ground is 75.5° can be used to test whether the ladder can support a certain load. The diagram represents a ladder placed next to a window that is 20 feet above the ground. What is the length of the ladder? Round to the nearest tenth.

Question

Reiny · Answer

I don't see any diagram but by a simple trig ratio, we have cos 75.5 = 20/L L = 20/cos75.5 = appr 79.9 ft Wow, a ladder to go up about 8 stories high???