Question

A woman has a ladder that is 13 feet long. If shesets the base of the ladder on level ground 5 feetfrom the side of a house, how many feet above theground will the top of the ladder be when it restsagainst the house?Your answer

Answer 1

Let the height be h.

Then by Pythagorean rule, we have

$h^2+5^2=13^2$

Therefore,

$\begin{gathered} h^2=13^2-5^2 \\ \Rightarrow h^2=169-25 \\ \Rightarrow h^2=144 \end{gathered}$

Hence,

$h=\sqrt[]{144}=12\text{ ft}$

Hence the height is 12 feet