A 26-foot ladder is placed against a house and reaches the 24-foot roof. What is the distance between the base of the ladder and the base of the house if the ground meets the house at a right angle?

The distance from the base of the ladder to the base of the house is 10ft

Step-by-step explanation:

From the question, we can gather that the ladder makes a right angle shape with the wall of the house.

The length of this ladder which represents the hypotenuse of the right angled triangle is 26ft while the height of the house to the roof is 24ft

To calculate the distance between the base of the ladder and the base of the house, we shall be employing the use of Pythagoras' theorem which states that the square of the hypotenuse equals the sum of the square of the 2 other sides

We have established that the hypotenuse is the length of the ladder which is 26ft

Let the distance we want to calculate be d

26^2 = 24^2 + d^2

d^2 = 26^2 - 24^2

d^2 = 676 - 576

d^2 = 100

d = square root of 100

d = 10ft