A ladder, 17 feet long, leans against a wall at a 49 degree angle to the ground. How far up the wall does the ladder reach?

What is 17*sin49?

13

To determine how far up the wall the ladder reaches, we can use trigonometry. In this case, we have a right triangle formed by the ladder, the ground, and the wall. The ladder acts as the hypotenuse, the ground represents the base of the triangle, and the wall represents the height.

First, let's identify the values we have:
- The length of the ladder (hypotenuse) is 17 feet.
- The angle between the ladder and the ground is 49 degrees.

We are looking for the height of the wall, which is opposite to the angle. Therefore, we need to use the sine function since it relates the opposite side (height) to the hypotenuse:

sin(angle) = opposite/hypotenuse

Now, we can substitute the known values into the formula:

sin(49°) = opposite/17

To isolate the opposite side, we rearrange the equation:

opposite = sin(49°) * 17

Using a calculator, we can find the value of sin(49°) and then calculate the opposite side:

opposite = 0.7558 * 17

The result is approximately 12.85 feet.

Therefore, the ladder reaches about 12.85 feet up the wall.