Fire escape 13 m long or to the window of the fifth floor of the house.

Fire escape 13 m long or to the window of the fifth floor of the house. the lower end of the ladder from 13 m is suspended by 5 m. How high is the window?

Obviously, if you draw a mentally straight line from the end of the ladder, which is on the ground, to the wall to a point that touches the ground, and from the point where the ladder touches the window, a straight line to the same point where the wall touches the ground, then we get a classic right-angled triangle in which the staircase plays the role of a hypotenuse.

Therefore, we will find out how many meters the height at which the indicated window is located, applying the known Pythagorean theorem:

√ (13 ^ 2 – 5 ^ 2) = √ (169 – 25) = √144 = 12.

Answer: 12 m.