Question: A ladder leans against a vertical wall. The bottom of the ladder is 6 feet away from the wall, and the top of the ladder reaches a window 10 feet high. A student says the ladder is 11.5 feet long. Which of the following best evaluates the student’s claim using the Pythagorean Theorem?
A) The student is correct because the ladder is the hypotenuse and square root of (6^2+10^2)​=square root of (136)​≈11.7, which rounds to 11.5.
B) The student is incorrect because square root of (6^2+10^2​)=square root of (136)​≈11.7, so 11.5 is an underestimate.
C) The student is incorrect because the ladder length is 16 feet.
D) The student is correct because you only need to add 6 and 10 to find the length.
Correct answer: B
Grade: 8 | Topic: Geometry | Difficulty: Hard | Standard: 8. G. B. 8