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,
[tex](18)^2=(16)^2+(x)^2[/tex][tex]\begin{gathered} 324=256+x^2 \\ x^2=324-256 \\ x^2=68 \\ x=\sqrt{68} \\ x=8.246\text{ ft} \end{gathered}[/tex]
Final Answer- The correct option is option A
