Sheila is climbing on a ladder that is attached against the side of a jungle gym wall. She is 5 feet off the ground and 3 feet from the base of the ladder, which is 15 feet from the wall. How high up the wall is the top of the ladder?

The top of the ladder is 25 ft from the ground nerds.

Assuming that she is 5 feet along the ladder, then using similar triangles,

3/5 = h/15

3/4 = h/15

This assumes that she is 5 feet up the ladder, or 4 feet closer along the ground.

If she is in fact 5 feet closer along the ground, then the original answer is good. The wording of the problem is unclear.

16

The answer key says 25

oh i got it, she is 5 feet from the ground, and the bottom of the ladder up to the 5 ft mark, is 3 ft.

/|
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |
/ |5 |h
/ |ft |
/ | |
----| -----------
3 ft 15 ft (pretend it extends)

so using similar triangles, the formula should be:
3/5 = 15/h
because 3 and 15 are both the numbers for the length. whereas 5 and h are the height.

gyh