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Question
David wants to find the height of a building. He places his 44 feet ladder against the very top of the building. David then measures the base of the building to his ladder which is 10 feet. How tall is the building? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.

a2+b2=c2
A visual to demonstrate the 44 foot ladder that has its feet resting 10 feet from the house. Please climb this ladder carefully!

(1 point)
The building is
feet tall (rounded to the nearest tenth).
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1 answer

To find the height of the building, we can use the Pythagorean theorem, which states:

\[ a^2 + b^2 = c^2 \]

where:

  • \( a \) is the height of the building (which we need to find),
  • \( b \) is the distance from the base of the building to the bottom of the ladder (10 feet),
  • \( c \) is the length of the ladder (44 feet).

Plugging in the values we have:

\[ a^2 + 10^2 = 44^2 \]

This simplifies to:

\[ a^2 + 100 = 1936 \]

Now, subtract 100 from both sides:

\[ a^2 = 1936 - 100 \] \[ a^2 = 1836 \]

Next, we take the square root of both sides to find \( a \):

\[ a = \sqrt{1836} \]

Calculating the square root:

\[ a \approx 42.9 \]

So, the height of the building is approximately 42.9 feet (rounded to the nearest tenth).