Asked by julie

A 12-foot ladder is placed 4 feet away from a house as shown.

A 12 foot ladder is leaning against a house to form angle x. The distance between the house and the bottom of the ladder is 4 feet. The angle between the house and the ground is 90 degrees.

What is the value of x, rounded to the nearest degree?

x ≈
°

According to the manufacturer, if the angle the ladder forms with the ground, x, is between 70° and 75°, then it meets safety standards.

Is this ladder being used safely?

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Right triangle with hypotenuse 12 and adjacent (ground) = 4, so
cos x = 4/12 = 1/3.
x = arccos(1/3) ≈ 70.5288° ≈ 71° (to the nearest degree).

Since 71° is between 70° and 75°, the ladder is being used safely.