Geometry Word Problem

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hbtcutie92

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Apr 20, 2006
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A ten foot ladder is placed against the side of a building. The base of the ladder must be placed at an angle of 72 degrees with the level ground for secure footing. Find, to the nearest inch, how far the base of the ladder would be from the side of the building and how far up the ladder will reach.

When I was trying to do the problem, i drew a picture. Then I thought i might use soh cah toa. I got confused on which one to use, and if my use of the theory was correct. Please reply and if not know how to do the problem, give me some good advice.
 
Good advive. A few rules. Don't scatter things around like that. If no one answers the first post putting things in a new thread isn't going to help.
Tutors drop in when the spirit moves. No one is here all the time. No one is paid to be here. If you don't get an answer when people have looked at your problem they may not know how to help. How many have you helped on?

If you know what soh cah toa stands for, look at the problem and see what you know. The ladder is the hypotenuse so that eliminates toa. It is adjacent to the ground (which is what you are looking for) so it must be cah.
cos(72)=X/10
 
how far the base of the ladder would be from the side of the building = x
x/10 = cos(72)

and

how far up the ladder will reach = y
y/10 = sin(72)


I hope this help you!
 
??

can someone please help me a little more? I don't understand what to do with the x as well as the y, do i use the decimal you get, and put it over ten, and then do it again for y. Like cos 72 = .31 and sin 72 = .95 for x does .31 for over ten, and for y does .95 go over 10???
 
Re: ??

hbtcutie92 said:
can someone please help me a little more? I don't understand what to do with the x as well as the y, do i use the decimal you get, and put it over ten, and then do it again for y. Like cos 72 = .31 and sin 72 = .95 for x does .31 for over ten, and for y does .95 go over 10???
Click to expand...

x / 10 = .31 ; multiply each side by 10:
x = 3.1

same procedure for y.
 
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