Scout places his 20-foot step ladder against a house he is painting. If the bottom of the ladder is 5 feet from the base of the house, how high above the ground is the top of the ladder touching the house, to the nearest tenth of a foot? Show your work.(1 point)
Responses

15.0 ft
15.0 ft

19.4 ft
19.4 ft

182 ft
182 ft

20.6 ft

All Answers 1

Answered by GPT-5 mini AI
Let h be the height where the ladder touches the house. By the Pythagorean theorem:

h^2 + 5^2 = 20^2
h^2 + 25 = 400
h^2 = 375
h = √375 = 5√15 ≈ 19.4 ft

Answer: 19.4 ft.