Pythagorean Theorem Word Problems

You need a ladder that will reach up a 25 foot tall house when placed 10 feet away from the house. How tall does the ladder need to be?

Which equation could be used to solve the problem?

Larry attached a string from the top of the flagpole to the ground.  The flagpole is 26 feet high and the string is 18 feet away from the flagpole.  How long is the string? 

• 352 feet 

• 31.6 feet 

• 44 feet 

• 6.6 feet 

A rectangular field is 50 yards wide and 100 yards long. Patrick walks diagonally across the field. How far does he walk?

• 111.8 yards

• 115 yards

• 127.3 yards

• 119 yards

Solve for the value of y

• 13

• 5

• 23

• 10

Find the length of the missing side.

• 25 cm

• 42 cm

• 52 cm

• 48 cm

Madison is on the top of an 80 foot building. She is creating a zipline course to the ground with 100 feet of cable. How far from the base of the building will she need to anchor the cable to make the zipline cable tight?

• 60 feet

• 20 feet

• 180 feet

Lisa drives her car 46 km south and then 13 km east. How far is she from her starting point?

• 44.1 km

• 59 km

• 47.8 km

• 33 km

Two joggers run 8 miles north and then 5 miles west.  What is the shortest distance back to their starting point to the nearest tenth of a mile?

• 13

• 9.4

• 6.2

• 9

Find h

• 35.60

• 35.00

• 35.71

• 61.03

The bottom of a ladder must be placed 3 feet from the wall. The ladder is 12 feet long. How far above the ground, does the ladder touch the wall?