A 20-foot ladder is leaning on a
building. The bottom of the
ladder is on the ground at a
distance of 12 feet from the
base of the building. The base of
the building and the ground
form a right angle as shown. Find
the distance between the ground
and the top of the ladder, x, in
feet.

From the bottom of the building to the top of the ladder, it is 16 feet.

Step-by-step explanation:

Depending on what grade you are in, you might know the Pythagorean theorem, whose equation is a^2+b^2=C^2 The measurement of the leaning ladder (20ft) is the hypotenuse of the right triangle, the distance from the bottom of the ladder to the building is the leg length (12ft). With this information we know the "c" of the equation, and the "b" or "a" of the equation. If we plug in the number for the letter the equation will look like this:  

12^2+b=20^2. 20 to the second power is 400, and 12 to the second power is 144. You can use the subtraction property of equality and get b^2=256. Use can use a calculator for this part. The square root of 256 is 16, which leaves the equation with b=16

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