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

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Janie

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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?
 
Re: Ladder on wall

Janie said:
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?
Click to expand...
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...
 
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?
 
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