You're locked out of your house and the only open window is on the second floor, 25 feet above the ground. You need to borrow a ladder from one of your neighbors. There's a bush along the edge of the house, so you'll have to place the base of the ladder 10 feet from the house. What length of ladder do you need to reach the window?

Question

Draw a picture:

Solve:

Answer 1

Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we can calculate the length of the ladder needed.

The ladder, the height of the window, and the distance from the base of the ladder to the house form a right triangle.

Let x be the length of the ladder.

Using the Pythagorean theorem: x^2 = 10^2 + 25^2
x^2 = 100 + 625
x^2 = 725
x = sqrt(725)
x ≈ 26.93

Therefore, you would need a ladder approximately 26.93 feet long to reach the window.