Brain Teasers
Ladder
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?
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?
Hint
It is not 4 ft. Try some Pythagorean theoreming.Answer
8 ftFirst triangle: 7 squared + 24 squared = 25 squared, so the top of the ladder was 24 feet high.
24 - 4= 20. 25 squared - 20 squared = 225. Take the square root of that and you get 15: the new base of the triangle. 15 - 7 (the old base) = 8ft
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