If you place a 24-foot ladder against the top of a 20-foot building, how many feet will the bottom of the ladder be from the bottom of the building? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

Answer 1

Using the Pythagorean theorem, we can find the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the bottom of the building.

a^2 + b^2 = c^2

(20)^2 + b^2 = (24)^2
400 + b^2 = 576
b^2 = 176
b = √176
b ≈ 13.3 feet

Therefore, the bottom of the ladder will be approximately 13.3 feet from the bottom of the building.