Answer:
The ladder should be 12 feet far from the wall to climb back in.
Step-by-step explanation:
Given:-
Length of the ladder = 20 feet
Height of the window from the ground = 16 feet.
To find:- The distance of ladder base from wall = ?
Solution:-
Consider a [tex]\triangle ABC[/tex] as show in the attached figure.
Now from the we can see that,
AC is the length of the ladder which is resting against the wall AB,BC is the distance of the ladder base and the wall which we have to find,
[tex]\therefore[/tex] AC=20 feet, and AB=16 feet. -----------(1)
Now, by Pythagoras theorem for triangle ABC,
[tex]AC^{2} =AB^{2} +BC^{2}[/tex]
[tex]\therefore 20^{2} =16^{2} -BC^{2}[/tex] ----------(from 1)
[tex]\therefore\ BC^{2} =400-256[/tex]
[tex]\therefore BC^{2} =144[/tex]
now square rooting both the side we get ,
[tex]\sqrt{BC^{2} } =\sqrt{144}[/tex]
[tex]BC=12[/tex]
Therefore the ladder should be 12 feet far from the wall to climb back in.
