A 12-foot ladder rests against the side of a house. The base of the ladder is 3 feet away from the side of the house. How high above the ground is the top of the ladder? Round to the nearest tenth of a foot.

The ladder, the wall, and the ground form a right triangle. The ladder is the hypotenuse, so the Pythagorean theorem gives the height squared as 12² − 3² = 144 − 9 = 135. The height is √135 ≈ 11.6 feet, so the best answer is B, 11.6 feet.

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