Question

A ladder 50 dm long when set against the wall of a house just reaches a window at a height of 48 dm. How far is the lower end of the ladder from the base of the wall?

Answer 1

Given that length of a ladder is 50 dm

Let the distance of the lower end of the ladder from the wall be x m.

By using the Pythagoras theorem, we get

x² + 48² = 50²

x² = 50² − 48² 

= 2500 – 2304

= 196

H = 14 dm

Hence, the distance of the lower end of the ladder from the wall is 14 dm.