Question

A 50 foot ladder is set against the side of a house so that it reaches up 48 feet. If Jack grabs the ladder at its base and pulls it 4 feet farther from the house, how far up the side of the house will the ladder reach now? (The answer is not 44 ft.) Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answers

  1. Answer: 45.8
    Step-by-step explanation:
    1. Find how far the bottom of the ladder is from the bottom of the house:
    (use Pythagorean theorem)
    (48)2 (50)2
    a2 + 2304 = 2500
    -2304 -2304
    a2= 196
    square root 196 = 14 ( ignore negative root, the length must be positive)
    ___
    Then find how far the top of the ladder is from the ground once it is put in its new position:
    (20)2 (50)2
    a2 + 400 = 2500
    -400 -400
    a2 = 2100
    square root 2100
    a = 45.825756
    a ≈ 45.8 (round to the nearest tenth)

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