Braingle: 'Ladder' Brain Teaser

Ladder

Math brain teasers require computations to solve.

Puzzle ID:	#29344
Fun:	(2.77)
Difficulty:	(1.88)
Category:	Math
Submitted By:	Crazycriely
Corrected By:	MarcM1098

Assume the ladder is NOT an extension ladder.
A 25 ft ladder is placed with its foot 7 ft away from a building. If the top of the ladder slips down 4 ft, how many feet will the bottom slide out?

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Comments

Splatt Mar 26, 2006	Yeah craz! Grats on your first teaser. Good job!
mitzimesser Mar 26, 2006	Much love to you on your first.
paul726 Mar 26, 2006	Way to go, CC! Congrats on your first teaser!
nurpin Mar 26, 2006	The way you worded the question can give the suggestion that the ladder is an extention ladder. Therefore if the top slips down, as you say-- you're not saying the whole ladder slips down 4 ft., just the top --- then the bottom, most likely, will not move at all! For as we all know, extension ladders can have the problem of the top slipping down when not properly hooked, thus making a loud clank, but leaving the bottom of the ladder where it originally was-- give or take a few millimeters or so.
Crazycriely Mar 26, 2006	YEY!! lol it came from a problem i had for homework so sorry about the confusion
mrfatbat Mar 26, 2006	It has been sooooooooooo long since I have used pythag theorem
cms271828 Mar 26, 2006	Well done, at least your teasers make it on here, mine are way to difficult for the editors to solve, they assume everyone else can't do it which isn't true. I'm tired of thinking up puzzles and having em rejected.
exterminator Mar 27, 2006	Chur teaser rocks. It's very good. Congrats on getting it accpeted! I got 6ft. does that count as the right answer? XD
silverlady Mar 27, 2006	great job, crazy
sgtammo Mar 27, 2006	Impressive first teaser! I hope to see more.
(user deleted) Mar 28, 2006	Just for the sake of accuracy, you did mean to put in the solution that 25 squared - 20 squared = 225 right?
coltonr1 Mar 28, 2006	inpressive 1st teaser like mine but wow urs it's off the hook! lol but im not a math wiz but still good teaser
Crazycriely Mar 29, 2006	lol ty everyone!!
FantomXA Mar 30, 2006	CRAZY wrecks my head... yet again..LOL
warmonkey318 Mar 31, 2006	Guess what? i just learned about that Pythagorean Theorem on thursday in math class!! (but i still got it wrong)lol
zigthepig Apr 03, 2006	I also just learnt Pythagorus Therom so I got it after reading the hint. Nice job my fellow crazy one
gunn56 Apr 12, 2006	Hey CC, great first teaser (esp since I'm a Math teacher). I really do love ladder problems and this was a great one. (plus, I did it quick in my head and got it WRONG ...... don't tell my students)
Crazycriely Apr 12, 2006	thank you!!! and ok i wont gunn lol
Mellew Apr 22, 2006	w2g gurlie P.S. i got it rong
cb123 Jun 13, 2006	cool teaser i liked it but i didnt get it right away but still cool teaser
Psychic_Master Jun 25, 2006	Good job on your first teaser, CC!
jlvsbeks Jun 27, 2006	Ha! I still remember how to do this (well i only learned it last year, but i don't usually think during the summer)
dopy13 Aug 09, 2006	nerd it's just dopy lol
Crazycriely Aug 10, 2006	lol i find it ironic and comical that my first accepted teaser was about a ladder...and i just fell off one a week ago
walston Sep 14, 2006	boring, but interesting ...just kidding...lol
soccerfreak Sep 27, 2006	huh?
appleandeve Sep 28, 2006	Yayy, I did it-- that was really easy, actually.
babycee Apr 12, 2007	hey i thought this was a trick question. the bottom stay on the ground. this was hard.
(user deleted) Dec 27, 2007	The question is worded poorly. The correct answer is that the ladder slips out 1 foot (being the sum of the original 7 plus an extra foot, giving an overall distance from the wall of 8 feet)
kauphi1976 Dec 21, 2008	:-) nce one.. so u mean before by buddy pytho , one would have to use a actual ladder to find the answer ? johnlr - pls read the answer again.. the ladder slips out 15 ft ... so 8 more than the previous 7ft
Zarahemla05 Dec 21, 2008	I got it, but if I had to show my work, I would have got an F-! Thanks, great teaser and now I have something to look up and learn!
doehead Dec 21, 2008	Math was one of my strongest subjects,so this was easy.
crazy10man Dec 21, 2008	Suddenly I'm back in high school again! Will there be a test on this? Great teaser. I'm ready for another!!!
bradon182001 Dec 21, 2008	Math is no my thing. So I didn't even try, but thanks for posting.
westbrook Dec 21, 2008	Complicated answer.
GebbieRose Dec 21, 2008	Nice teaser.
auntiesis Dec 21, 2008	A squared + B squared = C squared, boy does that bring back memories of elementary school. Always loved math. Good one.
here2 Dec 21, 2008	very nice teaser. I enjoyed it. Thanks.
Crazycriely Dec 21, 2008	WOO HOO! Second time this has been the Teaser of the Day...I think. =D
dsjt Dec 22, 2008	I know that 8ft is the correct answer using geometry. A lateral-thinking (or would that be ladderal thinking) solution would be that both of the ladder's feet slid out. Therefore the ladder slid two feet out.
avonma Dec 24, 2008	I gave up that kind of math when I graduated from college. I couldn't even understand the explanation!
javaguru Jan 02, 2009	12 seconds in my head. I could even guess the answer before doing it since I was pretty sure you were using a 3-4-5 right triangle for the second part since 25 is a multiple of 5. Still, nice teaser.
opqpop Sep 11, 2010	Know your 7-24-25 and 3-4-5's!!!!