Puzzle o' the Day 407!
Hmmm, not much love for the last two PotD's. Maybe you want something harder? Okay!
Here's an even more challenging variant to the Crossed Ladders Problem of PotD 404! (thanks to chaithedog for reminding me of its existence).
There are two ladders in the mouth of a narrow street. The 70-foot ladder has its bottom end at the base of the left wall, and leans on the right wall; the 119-foot ladder has its bottom end at the base of the right wall, and leans on the left wall. The ladders cross 30 feet above the street.
(The puzzle: medium-hard.) How wide is the street?
Hint one (in white): The answer is an integer (indeed, all relevant distances are integers).
Hint two (in white): Let A be how far the top of one ladder is above the street; let B be the same for the other ladder. Recall from PotD 404 that A and B have a relationship to h, the height of the intersection point (h = 30 feet here).
Hint three (in white): Now write a polynomial equation in A+B, and solve it.
Here's an even more challenging variant to the Crossed Ladders Problem of PotD 404! (thanks to chaithedog for reminding me of its existence).
There are two ladders in the mouth of a narrow street. The 70-foot ladder has its bottom end at the base of the left wall, and leans on the right wall; the 119-foot ladder has its bottom end at the base of the right wall, and leans on the left wall. The ladders cross 30 feet above the street.
(The puzzle: medium-hard.) How wide is the street?
Hint one (in white): The answer is an integer (indeed, all relevant distances are integers).
Hint two (in white): Let A be how far the top of one ladder is above the street; let B be the same for the other ladder. Recall from PotD 404 that A and B have a relationship to h, the height of the intersection point (h = 30 feet here).
Hint three (in white): Now write a polynomial equation in A+B, and solve it.