Kylie leans a 30-foot ladder against a wall so that it forms an angle of 74degrees
∘
with the ground. What’s the horizontal distance between the base of the ladder and the bottom of the wall? Round your answer to the nearest hundredth of a foot if necessary.
To find the horizontal distance between the base of the ladder and the bottom of the wall, we can use the cosine function in trigonometry.
cos(74°) = adjacent/hypotenuse
cos(74°) = x/30
Solving for x:
x = 30 * cos(74°)
x ≈ 30 * 0.2756
x ≈ 8.27 feet
Therefore, the horizontal distance between the base of the ladder and the bottom of the wall is approximately 8.27 feet.