Question

A building is 1ft from an 11ft fence that surrounds the property. A worker wants to wash a awindow in the building 14ft from the ground. he plans to place the ladder over the fence so it rests against the building. He decides he should decides to place the ladder 10ft from the fence for stability. To the nearest tenth of a foot, how long a ladder will he need

Answer 1

I assume we're dealing with point-size worker and window, and that the ladder will just touch the window. try using that setup in real life!

Draw a diagram. You have a right triangle with sides 11 and 14
ladder must be sqrt(121+196) = 17.8 ft

The height of the fence is not relevant, as long as it is less than 10/11*14 = 12.72 ft. Any higher than that, and the ladder will rest on the fence, not against the building.

Answer 2

18.4