A ladder reaches the bottom of a second-story window that is 16 feet above the ground. The base of the ladder is 12 feet from the house. Let's picture this situation. We see that the ladder, the wall, and the ground form a right triangle.
Using the Pythagorean Theorem, we can find the length c of the ladder. To do so, will substitute a= 12 and b= 16 into the pythagorean equation, and then solve for c.
The length of the ladder is 20 ft. Now, we know that after the ladder is bumped, it moves 2 feet farther away from the house. Again, let's picture this situation. See that this time we get a right triangle with a side length of 12+2=14 ft and a hypotenuse of 20 ft.
To find the other leg x, we can use the Pythagorean Theorem again. Note that the hypotenuse of the triangle is the same, but the legs are now 12 and x feet long. Let's go!
