Question

juan leans a 18 - foot ladder against a wall. if the ladder reaches 16.9 feet up the wall, what angle does it form with the wall? round your answer to the nearest tenth of a degree. answer attempt 2 out of 2

Explanation:

Step1: Identify the trig - ratio

We have a right - triangle situation where the ladder is the hypotenuse ($c = 18$ feet) and the height on the wall is the adjacent side ($a=16.9$ feet) to the angle between the ladder and the wall. We use the cosine function $\cos\theta=\frac{\text{adjacent}}{\text{hypotenuse}}$.
$\cos\theta=\frac{16.9}{18}$

Step2: Calculate the angle

We know that $\theta=\cos^{- 1}(\frac{16.9}{18})$.
$\theta=\cos^{-1}(\frac{16.9}{18})\approx21.8^{\circ}$

Answer:

$21.8^{\circ}$