Question

If you place a 26-foot ladder against the top of a building and the bottom of the ladder is 20 feet from the bottom of the building, how tall is the building? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot. help please now.

Answer 1

Answer: The building is approximately 16.6 feet tall.

Explanation:

Use Pythagorean theorem (a²+b²=c²) to solve this.

We know that the ladder is 26 feet long so that would be our hypotenuse (c²). and the distance between the ladder and the building is 20 feet. So, this is the base. The remaining side is x.

Your equation would be: 20²+x²=26²

subtract 20² from 26² --> 276=x²

then take the square root --> 16.6=x