Question

an electric pole is 24 feet long a mechanic uses of 30 feet long ladder to get to the top how far from the base of the pole should he place the ladder

Answer 1

let pole be perpendicular
ladder be hypotenuse
and distance be base
so, using Pythagorean
30^2 = 24^2 + b^2
900 = 576 + b^2
324 = b^2
18 = b

so distance = 18m

Answer 2

If I am not mistaken, this is a question to do with Right-angled triangles...

Anyways, the 24 feet (*cough* meters *cough*) electric pole should be counted as the height and the long ladder of 30 feet (*cough* meters *cough*) should be counted as the hypotenuse. And when it is asking how far from the base of the pole (or the corner of the right angle) should the ladder be is the distance of the base of the triangle.

We know from the Hypotenuse Theorem that the height (which I will call "a" from now) square plus the base ("b") square is equal to the hypotenuse ("c") square.

This means that 30^{2} - 24^{2} = b^{2}. So 900 - 576 = 324. But remember, the 324 is still the b squared to we need to root square it first before putting in the answer.

I will let you work out the answer because it is more educational that way (Hint: it is the number of which someone is considered an adult, units digit is 8)

I hope I have helped you answer this question XD