Question

1. If you wanted to reach the second-floor window of the house below, where should you place the base of the ladder?

Answer 1

Answer:

See Explanation

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is incomplete, as there are lots of missing details in the question. To do this, I will make assumptions

See attachment for question illustration where

$y \to$ the height of the second floor

$x \to$ the distance where the base of the ladder is placed

$l \to$ the length of the ladder

So, we are to solve for x.

Using Pythagoras theorem, we have:

$l^2 = x^2 + y^2$

Make $x^2$ the subject

$x^2 = l^2 - y^2$

Take square roots of both sides

$x = \sqrt{l^2 - y^2$

The above is the expression to calculate the base length of the ladder.

Assume

$y=50; l = 30$

So, we have:

$x = \sqrt{50^2 - 30^2$

$x = \sqrt{2500 - 900$

$x = \sqrt{1600$

$x =40$