Given- A window washer has an 18-ft ladder. He needs to reach the bottom of a window 16 feet off the ground.
Required- To find out How far out from the building should the base of the ladder be.
Explanation- The given problem can be considered by drawing out a right angle triangle as follows-
Suppose the base of the triangle is x ft.
Applying Pythagoras theorem to the above right angled triangle we get,
![(18)^2=(16)^2+(x)^2](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/7ja4oihj4xsxwrycsvngr7i8wv6jjk977k.png)
![\begin{gathered} 324=256+x^2 \\ x^2=324-256 \\ x^2=68 \\ x=√(68) \\ x=8.246\text{ ft} \end{gathered}](https://img.qammunity.org/2023/formulas/mathematics/college/5wmuhy4wkw79yr3sftaani3x8fqlz939bv.png)
Final Answer- The correct option is option A