A 16-foot ladder leans against the side of a building. The top of the ladder touches the side of the building at 12 feet above the ground. How far away from the base of the building is the bottom of the ladder?

10.6 feet, because you can use the Pythagorean theorem by the right triangle formed by the leaning ladder. 16 squared is 256, 12 squared is 144, and difference of the squares is 112, square root is 10.6. I hope my answer helped you to understand.