A ladder 36m long rests against a wall, its foot being at a horizontal distance of 25m from the base of the wall. What angle does the ladder make with the ground?

2 Answers
Mar 7, 2018

The ladder makes #46.02^0# angle with the ground.

Explanation:

In the right triangle formed by the ladder, wall and ground, base is

#b=25# m , hypotenuse is #h=36# m. Let the angle formed by the

ladder with the ground is #theta :. cos theta= b/h=25/36#

#:. theta=cos^-1(25/36) or theta ~~ 46.02^0#

The ladder makes #46.02^0# angle with the ground. [Ans]

Mar 7, 2018

#0.803" radians"color(white)("xx")=color(white)("xx")46.0^circ# (approx.)

Explanation:

enter image source here

By basic trig definitions (for the above diagram):
#color(white)("XXX")cos(theta)=25/36#
and
#color(white)("XXX")arccos(25/36)=theta#

That is
#color(white)("XXX")theta=arccos(25/36)=arccos(0.69bar4)=0.803" radians"# (using a calculator to 3 decimal places)