Question

An 11 foot ladder needs to be positioned so that the top of the ladder is 10 feet above the base of the outside wall of the house. How far should the bottom of the ladder be placed from the base of the wall?

Answer 1

Since the ladder and the wall and the ground form a right triangle, use the Pythagorean Theorem.

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

10^2 + b^2 = 11^2