Question

A 5-foot ladder is leaning against a 4-foot wall. How far must the bottom of the ladder be from the base of the wall so that the top of the ladder rests on the top of the wall?

Answer 1

Using the pythagorean theroem to solve this problem (a squared plus b squared equals c squared)
C would be the hypotenuse, which in this case is the five ft ladder.
The other known length of the leg is 4 ft.
5^2-4^2=25-16=9
9 must equal a^2 and a must equal 3
The correct answer is 3 ft

Answer 2

you need to use pythogoras theorem for this. imagine the leaning ladder as the hypotenuse, the wall as the height and the bottom of the ladder to the wall's base as the length.

so for now the length is the unknown. therefore,

length = sqrt (5^2 - 4^2)
length = sqrt 9
length = 3 foot

3ft is the answer