A safe slope for a ladder is 1 ft of run for every 4 ft of rise. Vincent needs to use ladder to reach a window sill that is 22 ft above the ground. How far from the house should the base of the ladder be?

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Answer 1 · 2016-12-30T14:43:59

$5color(white)(.)"feet "6color(white)(.)"inches"$

This is a case of Similar Triangles so we could use ratio

$("up")/("along") -> 4/1 = 22/("along")$

To change 4 into 22 multiply by $22/4$ . However what we do to the top we do to the bottom. For multiply and divide that is.

So we have: $" "(4xx22/4)/(1xx22/4) = (color(white)(.)22color(white)(.))/(22/4)$

$("up")/("along") =(color(white)(.)22color(white)(.))/(22/4)$

$"along "=22/4 = 5 1/2 feet$

$5color(white)(.)"feet "6color(white)(.)"inches"$