A - 12 ladder leans against the side of a house. The bottom of the ladder is 9ft from the side of the house. How high is the top of the ladder from the ground? If necessary, round your answer to the nearest tenth.

1 answer

This looks like a job for the Pythagorean Theorem because the ladder and the house form a right-angle triangle.

a^2 + b^2 = c^2
9^2 + b^2 = 12^2
81 + b^2 = 144
b^2 = 63
b = ______