Question

F you place a 16 ft ladder 6 feet from a wall, how high up the wall will it go?

Answer 1

Draw a diagram to represent the situation.

Explanation:

We can now use Pythagorean Theorem to solve this problem.

Assuming W represents the height of the wall.

`a^2 + b^2 = c^2`

`W^2 + 6^2 = 16^2`

`W^2 = 16^2 - 6^2`

`W^2 = 256 - 36`

`W = sqrt(220)`

`W = 14.83`

The wall is approximately `14.83` feet tall.

Practice exercises:

1. Use the following diagram to answer the next question
   

André wants to walk around the triangle outlined in the diagram (he wants to do a loop on the golf course). Find the total distance he'll have walked if he starts and ends at the Tee Area.

1. An airplane is flying at an altitude of 2005 feet. The airport the plane is scheduled to land at is 3546 feet away. If the airplane was just to fly directly over the airport, find the distance between the current location and the sky directly above the airport, assuming there is no change in altitude.