Question

Josh is painting a house. If he places his 20-ft ladder 6 feet from the edge of the house, about how far up the house will the ladder reach?


19 ft


21 ft


14 ft


26 ft

Answer 1

Using the Pythagorean theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) where 'a' is the distance from the ladder to the house (6 ft), 'b' is the height up the house that the ladder will reach (unknown), and 'c' is the length of the ladder (20 ft):

6^2 + b^2 = 20^2
36 + b^2 = 400
b^2 = 364
b ≈ 19.06 ft

So the ladder will reach approximately 19 feet up the house. Therefore, the answer is 19 ft.