The height of the flagpole is: 12 ft.
What is pythagorous theorem?
A theorem attributed to Pythagoras that the square on the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal in area to the sum of the squares on the other two sides.
Let the height of the flagpole be: x ft.
Now, we can model this problem with the help of a right angled triangle such that the hypotenuse of the triangle is: 20 feet
and one of the leg of the right triangle is: 16 feet
Now, in order to find the other leg i.e. x we need to use the Pythagorean Theorem.
[tex]20^2=x^2+16^2\\\\\\400=x^2+256\\\\\\x^2=400-256\\\\\\x^2=144\\\\\\x=\pm12[/tex]
i.e.
But the height can't be negative.
Hence, we get: x=12
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