Word problem — ladder against a wall
Read the story about the ladder and compute the missing dimension. Use the Pythagorean theorem.
A ladder 5 m long leans against a vertical wall. The foot of the ladder is 3 m away from the wall. How high up the wall does the ladder reach?
m
All difficulties
0%
Accuracy
0
Current streak
0
Total answers
0
Correct
What does the generator do?
The generator picks a Pythagorean triple in which the ladder is the hypotenuse (5, 10, 13, 17 or 15 m). It randomly asks either for the height up the wall or for the distance of the foot from the wall. Answers come out as whole numbers.
How to solve
Draw the triangle: the ladder is the hypotenuse, the wall and the ground are the legs. Use c² = a² + b² and express the missing leg as the square root of the difference of squares.