Adjustable Ladder

Follow up to http://teachers.henrico.k12.va.us/math/GeoGebra_Site/pythagoras/pythaPrblm1.html

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a. What young Pythagoras might not have known is that a safe ladder ratio is 4:1 for the height to distance from the wall. What length ladder does he need to reach the window safely? Is there one solution or more?

b. How would you solve this problem on paper?

John Golden, Created with GeoGebra