If you place a 38-foot ladder against the top of a 25-foot building, how many feet will the bottom of the ladder be from the bottom of the building? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

By using the Pythagorean Theorem, we can calculate the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the bottom of the building.

Let x be the distance we are trying to find.

Using the Pythagorean Theorem:
x^2 + 25^2 = 38^2
x^2 + 625 = 1444
x^2 = 1444 - 625
x^2 = 819
x = √819
x ≈ 28.6 feet

Therefore, the bottom of the ladder will be approximately 28.6 feet from the bottom of the building.