Joe uses a ladder to reach a window 10 feet above ground. If the ladder is 3 feet away from the wall, show whether a 12 foot ladder is long enough to reach the window.

Step-by-step explanation:

Answer: the ladder would be long enough.

Step-by-step explanation:

The ladder forms a right angle triangle with the wall of the building and the ground. The length of the ladder represents the hypotenuse of the right angle triangle. The height from the window to the base of the building represents the opposite side of the right angle triangle.

The distance from the bottom of the ladder to the base of the building represents the adjacent side of the right angle triangle.

To determine if a 12 foot ladder is long enough to reach the window, we would apply Pythagoras theorem which is expressed as

Hypotenuse² = opposite side² + adjacent side²

Let h represent the height that the ladder would get to. Therefore

12² = h² + 3²

144 = h² + 9

h² = 144 - 9 = 135

h = √135 = 11.62 feet

Since the height of the window is 10 feet above the ground, the ladder would be long enough.