The height of one story of a building is about 10 feet. The bottom of the ladder on the fire truck must be at least 24 feet away from the building. How many stories can the ladder reach? Justify your answer.

7 stories; Using the Pythagorean Theroem, the 74-foot ladder can reach at most 70 feet. Solving the inequality 10n−8≤70 gives n≤7.8, so the ladder cannot quite reach the 8th story.

8 stories; Using the Pythagorean Theroem, the 74-foot ladder can reach at most 70 feet. Solving the inequality 10n−8≤70 gives n≤7.8, which rounds to 8.

8 stories; Using the Pythagorean Theroem, the 74-foot ladder can reach at most about 78 feet. Solving the inequality 10n−78≤8 gives n≤8.6, so the ladder cannot quite reach the 9th story.

9 stories; Using the Pythagorean Theroem, the 74-foot ladder can reach at most 78 feet. Solving the inequality 10n−78≤8 gives n≤8.6, which rounds to 9.

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