The base of a ladder is placed 5 feet away from a 13 foot tall wall. What is the minimum length ladder needed to reach the top of the wall (rounded to the nearest foot)?

Answer 1

The minimum length ladder needed can be found using the Pythagorean theorem.

Let the length of the ladder be x.

According to the Pythagorean theorem,
x^2 = 5^2 + 13^2
x^2 = 25 + 169
x^2 = 194
x = sqrt(194)
x ≈ 13.93 feet

Rounded to the nearest foot, the minimum length ladder needed is 14 feet.