Answer
H) 11.6 ft
Work Step by Step
The situation described forms a right triangle, where the wall and the ground are the legs and the ladder is the hypotenuse.
For a right triangle, $a^2+b^2=c^2$, where a and b are the lengths of the legs and c is the length of the hypotenuse.
$a^2+b^2=c^2$
Substitute the given values.
$3^2+b^2=12^2$
Simplify the exponents.
$9+b^2=144$
Subtract 9 from each side.
$9+b^2-9=144-9$
Simplify.
$b^2=135$
Take the square root of each side.
$\sqrt{b^2}=\sqrt{135}$
Simplify.
$b=11.6$
