An 8.5-meter ladder is leaning against a vertical wall. How many meters is its base from the wall if the ladder reaches 7.5 meters up the wall?
I notice that the ladder, the wall, and the ground form a right triangle, where the ladder is the hypotenuse. I can use the Pythagorean theorem to relate the lengths of the sides of the triangle: a^2 + b^2 = c^2, where a is the height of the ladder on the wall, b is the base of the ladder on the ground, and c is the length of the ladder. I know that a = 7.5 and c = 8.5, so I can plug them into the equation and solve for b: 7.5^2 + b^2 = 8.5^2. Simplifying, I get 56.25 + b^2 = 72.25. Subtracting 56.25 from both sides, I get b^2 = 16. Taking the square root of both sides, I get b = 4. Therefore, the base of the ladder is 4 meters from the wall. 