A 72 foot ladder is leaning against a building. The base of the ladder is 5 feet from the building. How high up the building does the ladder reach? Round your answer to the nearest tenth

The ladder reaches 71.8ft high from the building

Step-by-step explanation:

This problem can be thought of as a right triangle

to calculate the height we will use Pythagoras

we will represent the ladder with the hypotenuse

h = hypotenuse = 72ft

l1 = leg 1 = 5ft

l2 = leg 2

h² = l1² + l2²

we replace with the known values

(72ft) ² = (5ft) ² + (l2) ²

5184ft² = 25ft² + (l2) ²

5184ft² - 25ft² = l2²

5159ft² = l2²

√ (5159ft²) = l2

71.826ft = l2

round to the neatest tenth

l2 = 71.826ft = 71.8ft

The ladder reaches 71.8ft high from the building