A six-foot long ladder is leaning against a wall. The bottom of the ladder is 3 feet away from the wall. How high up the wall is the ladder

first option

a function is a relation in which an input is paired with exactly one output.

so, let's find the right answer.

in our first option, our inputs are january, february, and march. the outputs are 30, 28, and 25. each input has it's own output. this is correct!

our second option we know is incorrect, because ms. valverade has two outputs, dogs and cats. this is not a function.

our third option is incorrect as well. the yellow square has two ouputs, the square and the triangle.

lastly, in our fourth option, we see the number 7 two times with a different output. therefore, this is not a function.

remember: each input must be paired with only one output!

we have three similar triangles, because each has a right angle and shares an angle.   let's write the angles in order: opposite to short leg, long leg, hypotenuse.

cab similar to bad similar to cbd

or as ratios,

ca: ab: cb = ba: ad: bd = cb: bd: cd

we also know

ac = ad + cd

(ad+cd): ab: cb = ba: ad: bd = cb: bd: cd

(ad+cd)/cb=cb/cd

we have cb=6, ad=5 and seek x=cd.

we reject the negative root and conclude x=4

answer: 4