Question

A ladder leaning against a wall makes an angle of 60° with horizontal. Its foot is 45 m away from the wall. Find the length of the ladder.

Answer 1

Given: Angle with horizontal = 60°, distance of foot from wall (adjacent) = 45 m.

Step-wise calculation:

1. Let L = Length of ladder (hypotenuse).

2. Use cosine:

cos 60° = `"Adjacent"/"Hypotenuse"` 

= `45/"L"`

3. `cos 60^circ = 1/2`

So, `1/2 = 45/"L"`.

4. Solve for L:

L = 45 × 2

= 90 m

The length of the ladder is 90 m.