Given two crossed Ladders resting against two buildings, what is the distance between the buildings? Let
the height at which they cross be and the lengths of the Ladders and . The height at which
touches the building is then obtained by solving
See also Ladder
References
Gardner, M.
Mathematical Circus: More Puzzles, Games, Paradoxes and Other Mathematical Entertainments from Scientific American.
New York: Knopf, pp. 62-64, 1979.