There is a 6 metres wide alley. Both walls of the alley are perpendicular to the ground. Two ladders, one 10 metres long, the other 12 metres, are propped up from opposite corners to the adjacent wall, forming an X shape. All four feet of each ladder are firmly touching either the corner or the wall. The two ladders are also touching each other at the intersection of the X shape.

What is the distance from the point of intersection from the ground?

I'm getting 4.52 metres above the ground at 2.6097 metres from the left wall. I just set the origin as the bottom left corner of the alley and used the equations of the lines to find the intersection points. It had been so long since I did geometry, I couldn't believe how stumped I was at first about finding the intersection point. Thanks Ravi!

Posted by DuCk on 2003-04-22 05:38:11