Question 121561
well the ladder is 4 meters long and 3.5 meters from the base of the building.  This creates a right angle and with one leg being x units long the other being 3.5  meters long and the hypotenuse being 4 meters in length.  Now you can just use the Pythagorean theorem.  

a = 3.5
b = b
c = 4


(3.5)^2 + b^2 = 16 --> square 3.5 
12.25 + b^2 = 16 --> subtract 12.25 from both sides
b^2 = 3.75

since the actual height of the building under the ladder is {{{sqrt(3.75)}}} the ladder comes in far under the window.