The base of a ladder is 25 meters due west of a burning building. If the angle of elevation of the ladder is 51°, how long is the ladder (round to the nearest meter) ?

Answer: the length of the ladder is 40 meters.

Step-by-step explanation:

The ladder forms a right angle triangle with the wall and the ground.

The length of the ladder represents the hypotenuse of the right angle triangle.

The distance of the base of the ladder due west of the burning building represents the adjacent side of the right angle triangle.

To determine the length of the ladder, h, we would apply the cosine trigonometric ratio. It is expressed as

Cos θ = adjacent side/hypotenuse. Therefore,

Cos 51 = 25/h

h = 25/Cos 51 = 25/0.6293

h = 40 meters to the nearest meter.