The foot of a ladder is 2m away from a vertical wall. The height of the top of the ladder is half a meter less than the length of the ladder. Find the length of the ladder.
so use pythagorean theorem a^2+b^2=c^2 a=base b=height c=legnth of ladder
a=2 b=c-0.5 subsitute 2^2+(c-0.5)^2=c^2 4+c^2-c+0.25=c^2 add like terms c^2-c+4.25=c^2 subtract c^2 from both sides -c+4.25=0 add c to both sides 4.25=c
