The base of a ladder should be set out a distance equal to ____ the height to the point of support.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The base of a ladder should be set out a distance equal to one-fourth of the height to the point of support. This is because the ladder forms a right triangle with the ground and the wall, and the hypotenuse of a right triangle is always longer than the other two sides. The base of the ladder is the shorter of the two sides, so it must be less than half of the hypotenuse.

The Base of a Ladder Should Be Set Out a Distance