If you place a 38-foot ladder against the top of a 32-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

Using the Pythagorean theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2), where a = 32 feet (height of the building), b = distance from the bottom of the building to the bottom of the ladder, and c = 38 feet (length of the ladder):

32^2 + b^2 = 38^2
1024 + b^2 = 1444
b^2 = 420
b = sqrt(420)
b ≈ 20.5 feet

Therefore, the bottom of the ladder will be approximately 20.5 feet from the bottom of the building.