Question

A 20 ft ladder is placed against a building to reach a window that is 16 feet above the ground. How many feet away from the building is the bottom of the ladder?

Answer 1

Draw it as a Triangle:

\[A ^{2}+B ^{2}=C ^{2}\]
A being the distance from the ground to the window (16 feet).
B being the distance from the building to the ladder (x or unknown)
C being the length of the ladder (20 feet).

Solve for the unknown.