Ladder on wall: find the length of the ladder if....

[Janie]

The top of the ladder touches the wall at 9 ft
find the length of the ladder if the lenght is 3 ft more than its distance from the wall.

I think is it like this

would it be 15 feet tall?

[Denis]

The top of the ladder touches the wall at 9 ft
find the length of the ladder if the lenght is 3 ft more than its distance from the wall.
I think is it like this..would it be 15 feet tall?
Yes; but "think" is not sufficient: you need to show HOW, like:
x = distance from wall; then ladder = x + 3, and:
x^2 + 9^2 = (x + 3)^2

If you can't handle that, you need to talk to your teacher...

[mcrae]

i would have solved this problem so that x=12, but i don't intuitively understand exactly why there are no answers other than 12, can anyone give a good explanation?

[tkhunny]

Denis did, already.