If a ladder is 20ft and it is against a house, the base of the house is 4ft from the house. how high does...?

Question

the ladder reach??

Answer 1

formula of a right triangle: a^2+b^2=c^2 where c is the hypotenuse and a and b are the other legs.

in this case the ladder length would be the hypotenuse so

20^2=4^2+b^2

400=16+b^2

400-16=b^2

384=b^2

take the square root of 384, and that will be how high the ladder reaches

the ladder reaches 19.596ft.

Answer 2

Did you mean the base of the ladder is 4 ft from the house?

Answer 3

well you didnt word the problem well but I understand what you mean: if a 20 ft ladder is leaning toward a house where the foot of the ladder is 4 ft from the house, how high up the side of the house does the top of the ladder reach?

in this case the hypotenuse is 20 ft, and one leg is 4 ft,

hense, use the pythagorean theorem:

a² + b² = c²

4² + b² = 20²

16 + b² = 400

b² = 384

b = √384 = (√4)(√96) = (2)(√16)(√6) = (2)(4)(√6)=

      = 8√6 feet or approx 19.60 feet

      

Answer 4

ACK!  CALCULUS!!! I had nightmares b/c of questions like this!  

You should probably go with the math teacher's answer.  

Answer 5

13.5 ft

Answer 6

20^2 = 4^2 +x^2

20^2 - 4^2 = x^2

400 -16 = x^2

384 = x^2

√384 = 19.60to nearest cm