David wants to find the height of a building. He places his 58 feet ladder against the very top of the building. David then measures the base of the building to his ladder which is 15 feet.
How tall is the building? Round your answer to the nearest tenth.
h=
The height of the building can be found using the Pythagorean theorem, which states that in a right triangle, the square of the hypotenuse is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides.
In this case, the height of the building is the hypotenuse of a right triangle, the base of the building is one of the legs, and the ladder is the other leg.
Let h be the height of the building.
Using the Pythagorean theorem, we have:
h^2 = 58^2 - 15^2
Simplifying,
h^2 = 3364 - 225
h^2 = 3139
Taking the square root of both sides,
h ≈ √3139
h ≈ 55.9
Therefore, the height of the building is approximately 55.9 feet.