The top of a 25-foot ladder is sliding down a vertical wall at a constant rate of 3 feet per minute. When the top of the ladder is 7 feet from the ground, how far is the bottom of the ladder from the wall?
A right triangle is formed with a height of 7 ft (up the wall) and a hypotenuse of 25 ft (the ladder).
a² + b² = c² {the pythagorean theorem}
7² + b² = 25² {a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse}
49 + b² = 625 {evaluated the exponents}
b² = 576 {subtracted 49 from each side}
b = 24 {took the square root of each side}
the bottom of the ladder is 24 ft from the wall
- Algebra House
a² + b² = c² {the pythagorean theorem}
7² + b² = 25² {a and b are the legs and c is the hypotenuse}
49 + b² = 625 {evaluated the exponents}
b² = 576 {subtracted 49 from each side}
b = 24 {took the square root of each side}
the bottom of the ladder is 24 ft from the wall
- Algebra House
