Problem

A 5.7 m long ladder is leaning against a wall. The wall stands perpendicular to the ground. The base of the ladder is 1.5 m away from the wall.
Work out the size of the acute angle that the ladder makes with the ground. Give your answer in degrees to 1 d.p.

Answer

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Answer

Use the tangent function to find the angle between the ladder and the ground: angle=arctan(ba). Convert the angle from radians to degrees and round to 1 decimal place. 74.7 degrees.

Steps

Step 1 :Use the Pythagorean theorem to find the height of the ladder on the wall: b2=c2a2, where a=1.5 and c=5.7. Calculate b as the square root of b2.

Step 2 :Use the tangent function to find the angle between the ladder and the ground: angle=arctan(ba). Convert the angle from radians to degrees and round to 1 decimal place. 74.7 degrees.

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