A ladder is leaning against a building so that the distance from the ground to the top of the ladder is 4 feet less than the length of the ladder. Find the length of the ladder if the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the building is 12 feet.

Answer 1

the ladder is the hypotenuse of a right triangle ... 12^2 + (L - 4)^2 = L^2

144 + L^2 - 8 L + 16 = L^2 ... 160 = 8 L