A moving van ramp is 72 inches in length. The top of the ramp can be adjusted to any height up to 20 inches. The ramp is set so that the distance across the ground from the bottom of the ramp to the ground underneath the top of the ramp is 70 inches. What is the height of the ramp above the ground? Round the answer to the nearest tenth of an inch.

Question

Hudson Zimmerman

Mathematics

6 January, 06:17

A moving van ramp is 72 inches in length. The top of the ramp can be adjusted to any height up to 20 inches. The ramp is set so that the distance across the ground from the bottom of the ramp to the ground underneath the top of the ramp is 70 inches. What is the height of the ramp above the ground? Round the answer to the nearest tenth of an inch.

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Answers (1)

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Daniel Bush · Answer 1

The ramp forms a right triangle with the ground and the hypotenuse is 72 cm. From the statement, one of the legs of the right triangle formed is 70 cm. We use the Pythagorean theorem to calculate for the height.

c² = a² + b²

Substituting,

(72 cm) ² = (70 cm) ² + b²

b = 16.85 cm

Thus, the height of the ramp above the ground is approximately 16.85 cm.