Question

A ladder 17 m long reaches a window which is 8 m above the ground, on one side of the street.Keeping its foot at the same point, the ladder is turned to the other side of the street to reach a roof at a height of 15 m.Find the width of the street.

Answer 1

let width of one side of the street from foot of the ladder to the wall b x.
by Pythagoras theorem,
17square=8square+x square
x=15m
Now,
let width of the other side of the street from the foot of the ladder to the wall on the other side be y.
by Pythagoras theorem,
17square= 15square+y square
y=8m
Again,
x+y=total width of the street
i.e.23m