you need a ladder that will reach up a 25 foot tall house when placed 10 feet away from the house. How tall does the ladder need to be

A. 26 feet

B. 25 feet

C. 27 feet

D. 28 feet

1 answer

The ladder, the distance from the ladder to the house and the height of the house form a right-angled triangle. Let's use the Pythagorean theorem to solve for the length of the ladder:

ladder^2 = distance^2 + height^2

ladder^2 = 10^2 + 25^2

ladder^2 = 100 + 625

ladder^2 = 725

ladder = √725 = approximately 26.9258

So, the ladder needs to be 27 feet tall to reach the top of the 25-foot house when placed 10 feet away.

The answer is C.