Question

a ladder 15 feet long leans against a house and make a angle of 60 degrees with the ground . find the distance from the house to the foot of the ladder .

Answer 1

We can use the next diagram in order to solve the question

we need to find x, x is the distance from the house to the foot of the ladder, we will use a trigonometric function in order to find x in this case we will use the cosine

$\cos (\theta)=\frac{AS}{H}$

where

θ= 60°

AS=x

H=15 ft

we substitute the values

$\cos (60)=\frac{x}{15}$

we need to isolate the x

$x=\cos (60)(15)=7.5ft$

the distance from the house to the foot of the ladder is 7.5 ft