Final answer:
The man will be able to reach approximately 20.26 meters on the building to paint when standing on top of the ladder.
Step-by-step explanation:
To calculate how high the man will be able to reach on the building when standing on top of the ladder, we can use similar triangles. The height the man can reach can be found by finding the length of the ladder that corresponds to the height of the building.
Using the given information, we have the ladder height (12 meters), the distance from the building (5 meters), and the height of the man (1.87 meters). We can set up the following equation:
(ladder height - height of the man) / distance from the building = height the man can reach / height of the building
Plugging in the values, we have:
(12 - 1.87) / 5 = height the man can reach / 20
Solving for the height the man can reach, we get:
height the man can reach = ((12 - 1.87) / 5) * 20 = 20.26 meters (approximately)